Thanks to five tries, New Zealand outclassed Australia on Saturday morning for the sixth and final day of the Rugby Championship. The All Blacks are provisionally second pending the South Africa-Argentina “final”.
New Zealand ended its Rugby Championship on a good note by outclassing Australia 33-13 on Saturday in Wellington, inflicting another defeat on the Wallabies, dead last in the competition.
Manhandled at the start of the match because of their indiscipline, but capable of lightning offensives to turn the match around, Scott Robertson’s All Blacks fought for 40 minutes before taking the lead.
The Wallabies in full doubt
The Blacks’ second solid period, with a 14-0 infliction on the Wallabies, offers coach Scott Robertson some reasons for satisfaction before turning to a busy autumn tour in Europe (England, Ireland, France then Italy).
For the Australians, led by New Zealander Joe Schmidt, who was expected to be the savior after a disastrous World Cup, concerns are legion, less than a year from hosting a British and Irish Lions tour.
Eliminated from the groups of the 2023 World Cup, the Wallabies recorded only one success in the Rugby Championship, on the gong against Argentina (20-19), for five defeats, including a rout against the same Pumas ( 67-27).
In the wake of their third lines Fraser McReight and Rob Valetini, the Australians started the match with a bang, cornering the Blacks in their camp, before McReight flattened, all powerful (8th).
Will Jordan scores a 35th try
Very undisciplined (six fouls in 20 minutes), the Blacks however took advantage of the Australian defensive fragility to regain the advantage with two tries from winger Sevu Reece (16th) and fullback Will Jordan (22nd), his 35th in 37 selections. Caleb Clarke (40th+1), just before the break, went for it on his wing to allow the Blacks to be in the lead at halftime 19 to 13.
In the second period, the New Zealand bench made Australia, largely dominated, crack. The replacement pillar Tanati Williams (55th), in force, then Clarke, for a double (65th), dampened Australian hopes of snatching a victory on New Zealand soil, which would have been the first since 2001.
