New Zealand completed a 4-0 Bledisloe Cup sweep over Australia, its first clean sweep since 1972, when winning the Tokyo Test 32-19 on Saturday. The Wallabies provided a much stiffer test for the All Blacks in Tokyo, but still fell short.
Dan Carter provided a 22 point haul to ease New Zealand to this win, but Australia had their chances and Wycliff Paul their big no.8 was denied twice, once held-up over the line and the second time dispossed. The good news for Robbie Deans the Aussie coach was that this time out his team contested well at breakdown and although the winning margin flatterd the Kiwis, they knew they had been in a match.
The first half was nip and tuck, as New Zealand took a 10-6 lead thanks to a Sitiveni Sivivatu try converted by Carter. Following 2 Giteau and 1 Carter penalty. Giteau and Carter exchanged penalty goals in the 29th and 30th minutes. Then refree Lawrence awarded a try to Hynes and the Giteau conversion put the teams into half-time with a narrow Australia lead of 16-13.
The second half scoring was predominatly New Zealand as Conrad Smith touched down on 45 minutes, followed by a carter penalty and a lead of 26-16, Giteau narrowed the gap to 7 points with another penalty, but Carter closed the game out with a further 2 of his own to give us the final score of:
New Zealand 32 Australia 19
Scorers
New Zealand
Tries: Sitiveni Sivivatu, Conrad Smith. Kicks: Daniel Carter 2 con, 6 pen.
Australia
Tries: Peter Hynes. Kicks: Matt Giteau con, 4 pen.
Teams
New Zealand: Muliaina; Jane, C Smith, Nonu, Sivivatu; Carter, Cowan; Woodcock, Hore, Tialata, Thorn, Donnelly, Thomson, McCaw, So’oialo.
Replacements: Afoa for Tialata (46), Read for So’oialo (54).
Not Used: Flynn, Eaton, Leonard, Donald, Ellison.
Sin Bin: Sivivatu (32).
Australia: O’Connor; Hynes, Cross, Ashley-Cooper, Ioane; Giteau, Genia; Robinson, Moore, Alexander, Horwill, Chisholm, Elsom, Pocock, Palu.
Replacements: Polota-Nau for Moore (49), Mumm for Chisholm (50), Smith for Palu (54).
Not Used: Dunning, Burgess, Mitchell, Cooper.