'Few scars': All Blacks captain reflects on disappointing Rugby Championship

While the All Blacks ultimately didn’t get what they wanted in this year’s Rugby Championship, they still managed to preserve a couple of historic records in the process.

The Bledisloe Cup will be in the trophy cabinet for another year, as the All Blacks beat the Wallabies in back-to-back weeks, but they’ll be without the Rugby Championship trophy in 2025.

Saturday’s victory at Optus Stadium in Perth was their eleventh straight win against the Wallabies, meaning the last defeat for the All Blacks in this fixture was in 2020.

Scott Robertson’s side also got through two tough Tests in Auckland, extending their unbeaten streak to 52 games at Eden Park, where they will keep that streak for another international season.

All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, who missed last week’s Test at Eden Park, says that his side were very happy to finish the Rugby Championship with back-to-back wins.

“Yeah, I think it’s pleasing to finish the Rugby championship with a win like that. It wasn’t pretty, but yeah we stayed tough tonight in greasy conditions,” Barrett told reporters in Perth.

The 31-year-old admits that throughout the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks have learned lessons about the small margins in Test match rugby.

“I think throughout this rugby championship, we’ve learned that we need to front up every week when you put the jersey on, and a couple of times we clearly didn’t do that and those are tough lessons.

“This group’s got few scars from that, and we want to have a bit of a refresh before we hit up north, and I guess chase that grand slam,” Barrett said.

Both teams struggled at lineout time with the challenging conditions in Perth, and Barrett admits that his forward pack were far from perfect on Saturday evening.

“Yeah it was a greasy night and it was challenging to throw to the back. So we probably, you know, shifted a little bit, and we’re just hoping to get in the air and I guess it wasn’t a perfect night for our line out either by no stretch of the imagination.

“So it’s challenging on both parts, but I guess we’re pleased to come away with a win tonight.”