Wallabies rebound, defeating All Blacks to win championship

A hurting All Blacks side believe it’s a case of doing the little things better rather than drastic changes as they battle to keep hold of the Bledisloe Cup.

Australia’s scrum was outstanding but the lineout was off in the Wallabies’ 27-19 victory in Sydney on Saturday night, which secured the Rugby Championship and set up a Bledisloe decider for the first time since 2008.

Australia’s Nic White, center, scores a try against New Zealand during their Rugby Championship …

Cheika was quick to calm everyone down not wanting the players and the public to get too excited about a quality win.

When the rugby started the pressure told on the All Blacks from the start when lock Brodie Retallick dropped the kick off and from there the All Blacks game was riddled with inaccuracies. “And we’ve won games in the past because we’ve got that right and tonight we didn’t”. “After we train this afternoon the coaches will sit down and discuss what we think is the best combination over there”, said Cheika.

The upcoming Test is the All Blacks’ last before the World Cup, which means a final chance for the players to press their claims for selection for the tournament.

The coach said he had been extremely impressed by Sio since he had come into the Wallabies environment, and was also happy he had worked out a way to get Hooper and Pocock into the starting side together after they had split the duties in the No. 7 jumper in the past two games.

“It will build resolve within us”, Steve Hansen, New Zealand’s head coach, promised as he looked ahead to Auckland.

“They’re inexcusable those sort of errors to be honest”, said the 34-year-old, who was on the losing side for just the 15th time in his record-equalliing 141st test.

Dan Carter kicked New Zealand into a 6-3 lead in the first-half, with Matt Giteau responding for the Wallabies.

“[Wallabies] They’ve put a lot of work into their physicality”.

But the All Blacks conjured a response 10 minutes later as Carter’s offload found Ben Smith with an small element of fortune, allowing the fullback to burst through and feed Hurricanes flyer Milner-Skudder.

“I think back to a bit younger when perhaps I wasn’t as well conditioned and probably wasn’t as good at looking after myself”, McCaw said. He did not play in the third Test against the All Blacks in Brisbane last year that Australia lost 29-28.

“The path that we need to go on if we want to be competitive”.

He fashioned a brilliant grubber-kick for Adam Ashley-Cooper to chase, and the winger did not let the opportunity slip as he contrived a stunning try, leaping high and touching the ball down a fraction of a second before being taken out.

Most importantly of all, which team will learn the most from these double encounters, and heed its lessons, making the necessary adjustments in personnel, strategy and tactics leading into the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

The All Blacks are a different beast at Eden Park, however.

For Pool A opponents Wales, Fiji and England, this excellent display from Cheika’s Australia provides much food for thought.