The Wallabies were blown off the park again at the MCG, right? More so, was the 38-7 scoreline just one more gruesome scene in a Bledisloe Cup nightmare that celebrated its 21st birthday this week?
Well, sort of. The Wallabies were second best only in short periods of time during an otherwise competitive performance that actually gets more encouraging with every watch. Until almost the hour mark, the Wallabies were one try away from setting up another grandstand finish in Melbourne.
“I think the scoreline flattered us, to be perfectly honest,” All Blacks coach Ian Foster said post-game. “They will regret they couldn’t put prolonged periods of pressure on us.”
It is a theme that has continued in all subsequent post-mortems. The Wallabies were unable to convert pressure at the MCG, and on the flipside, gave New Zealand too many free hits to pile on pressure and tries.
Most of the damage can be tracked back to a handful of bad choices by players and also in the coaches box. But those brain fades can, strangely enough, also offer hope to long-suffering Wallabies fans. If the Wallabies cut the mistakes and become a smart team again, success may not be as far away as many fear.
So what were some of the self-inflicted wounds in Melbourne?
OFF THE TOP ROPE
The huge crowd had barely taken their seats at the MCG when the Wallabies had a routine lineout win on their own line, and Jed Holloway opted to go off the top rope to halfback Tate McDermott. The 82kg Wallaby was monstered in a tackle by All Black second-rower Scott Barrett. The ball went free and a try was scored in the third minute.
The All Blacks later said they’d planned for the Wallabies to make that exact mistake.
“He saw one there and then took it. I think the world knows not to throw it off the top [of the lineout] when they are five metres out, now,” All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor said.
SINS OF THE HALFBACK
The Wallabies bounced back with a try and had been combining threatening attack with resolute defence, even on their own line.
But after patiently repelling the All Blacks for successive waves of 10-plus phases in their own quarter, Marika Koroibete blinked and took a punt on a turnover after making a tackle. The ball popped free from New Zealand’s ruck, and standing offside in the All Blacks halfback spot, a retreating Koroibete grabbed it.
Koroibete was sin-binned, leaving the Wallabies down to 14 men for the fourth time in three games. New Zealand eventually took advantage by returning to the Wallabies line and scoring seven minutes later.
KICKING YOURSELF
A false narrative has emerged that Carter Gordon was ripped to shreds in the media this week, which prompted Eddie Jones’ strident defence.
In truth, a few fluffed kicks from Gordon were about the only thing mentioned, and even that wasn’t all his fault. Given selections elsewhere, Gordon was given kicking duties for the Wallabies – line kicking, goalkicking and restarts – despite not having those regular roles in Super Rugby.
Gordon has ample talent to do the job, but several calls to kick open to the right-hand side instead of a more comfortable left-hand side added extra difficulty for an already nervous youngster. A squibbed restart to the right in the 35th minute led to a Kiwi centre-field scrum, and after several more minutes of subsequent pressure, the All Blacks scored again.
“Just staying in [the game], and understanding each big moment that comes within the game,” Samu Kerevi said.
“The ABs put a lot of pressure on us, especially before that half-time. We were going into the halftime [break] with a good scoreline. But that last try just kind of cemented their momentum in that first half. We just need to focus on those things.”
TAP AND NO-GO
The Wallabies came out in the second half and built good pressure. But after a few failures off the lineout platform, Tate McDermott looked to keep up the attack from a penalty with a quick tap.
In the northern hemisphere, well-planned tap moves from five metres out are now common to manipulate and exploit defences.
But the rushed Wallabies went ad-hoc, and Taniela Tupou was given the ball almost standing still. He did well to muscle forward but Jordan Uelese’s next carry had ineffective support and the ball was lost to Ardie Savea. Adding further pain to the lost opportunity, Tupou hurt his ribs in his run, too.
RIB RATTLED
Over the next five minutes, Tupou was in significant distress with his rib injury. At one point he was unable to pass a ball from the ruck, such was the intensity of the pain.
Tupou was struggling and needed to come off but just as he was about to be substituted, coaches stopped a switch with Angus Bell and elected to keep him on the field for one last scrum.
The Wallabies had the feed but New Zealand attacked Tupou’s side, and after a misjudged delay from Nic White at the scrum base, the Australian scrum back-pedalled and the Kiwis turned the ball over.
With the Wallabies now defending, Tupou went into a tackle and protected his ribs by tucking his arm, and the collision caused him to whack Nepo Laulala in the head with his shoulder.
Tupou was finally subbed but the tackle was reviewed and Tupou was yellow-carded. The moment was pivotal.
In the next nine minutes, with 14 Wallabies on the field, the All Blacks scored three more tries and took a 19-7 scoreline out to 38-7. After the hosts got 15 back on the field, there were no more points scored.
The punt to get one last scrum out of Tupou was costly. Four of New Zealand’s last five tries had come against 14 men, and the Bledisloe was gone for another year.
