Australia’s Eden Park hoodoo will enter a fourth decade after New Zealand saw off another exciting Wallabies comeback to clinch a 33-24 win at their fortress and ensure the Bledisloe Cup remains in the All Blacks’ hands for a 24th consecutive year.
Despite two decades of one-way traffic, this Bledisloe Test was the most tantalising in years. New Zealand were the Rugby Championship’s fastest starters and Australia the slowest. So for the Wallabies to be 13-3 down after 15 minutes surprised few. The men in black were red hot from the get-go, moving with cohesion and precision, each pass and kick a dagger. Australia were back-pedalling, making mistakes, losing collisions.
