‘Back to that New Zealand of old’: Ex-Wallaby on Perth Bledisloe clash

Nick Phipps believes the All Blacks looked like the “New Zealand of old” during last weekend’s 28-14 win over the Wallabies at Perth’s Optus Stadium, as they secured a Bledisloe Cup series sweep in rainy conditions

After retaining the giant Cup for another year with a nine-point win at Eden Park, the All Blacks had a chance to make more history – chasing a record-breaking 11^th consecutive win over the Wallabies, who last tasted victory against their neighbouring rivals in November 2020.

Tane Edmed knocked over three first-half penalties, with the Wallabies holding a hard-earned two-point lead before the All Blacks took control. Jodie Barrett’s falcon try assist for Quinn Tupaea saw the All Blacks go in front, before the midfielder crossed for a double.

URC Head of Match Officials, Tappe Henning, chats to Jan de Koning about a change in ‘attitude’ towards referees

URC Head of Match Officials, Tappe Henning, chats to Jan de Koning about a change in ‘attitude’ towards referees

Those two tries just before the half-time break swung the match’s momentum in the All Blacks’ favour. Damian McKenzie added another three points to their lead with a penalty around the one-hour mark, but Len Ikitau made it a one-score game with an effort in the 65^th minute.

McKenzie converted one more slot at the sticks before George Bower had the final point-scoring say of the Test, as the prop crossed of his first try in professional rugby. As Phipps explained, the All Blacks have “done it again”, beating the Wallabies with a fairly clinical performance.

“I think they really went back to that New Zealand of old, punishing mistakes, physical up front,” Phipps said on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts.

“They would have known that this was a bit of a danger game for them. There was a lot of emotion in there from the Wallabies, players coming back – Will Skelton coming back to lead that physicality.

“Their ability to punish the Wallabies every time they made a mistake was damaging.

“I thought both teams played really, really well in the conditions. It was wet, it was rainy, it was windy. I thought both teams threw everything at it, it wasn’t just a boring game.”

With more than 60,000 supporters filling the stands, the Wallabies and All Blacks went to battle as rain poured down from above. While the wet weather was another challenge for both teams to overcome, it didn’t stop the visitors from securing back-to-back wins.

The All Blacks suffered a record 43-10 loss to the Springboks last month, but they’ve bounced back with two wins to end their Rugby Championship campaign. They’ll head abroad in a few weeks, starting their Northern Tour against Ireland in Chicago.

“Some of those final images underlined just how wet it was. I think it helped almost New Zealand by more pragmatic,” former Wallaby Morgan Turinui added.

“They very much controlled the game. There were some sliding door moments of course in the first half but even over 160 minutes, not 80 minutes, they were better than the Wallabies.

“What I did notice on the weekend, they went harder again at the breakdown, a bit like they did at Eden Park against South Africa. They  were super hard at every breakdown they could get. The Wallabies infringed a lot trying to get their own ball.

“I thought it was a pretty complete performance from New Zealand who will think they have a huge amount of improvement in them.”