Although both Australia and New Zealand looked a little rusty, an entertaining start to the 2013 Rugby Championship saw the latter run out convincing 47-29 winners in the opening game in Sydney.
Ominously, the All Blacks were not at their best throughout yet won by a comfortable margin. The game was definitively won and lost in the third quarter when, after a scrappy start to the second half, New Zealand struck with two quick tries to knock the stuffing out of Australia. At 25-19 to the All Blacks at the break, the game might have gone either way. After 60 minutes, with the score on 37-22, there was no way back for the home side.
Despite the margin of defeat, there were encouraging signs for an Australian side rebuilding under new management. Through the reliable boot of Christian Lealiifano they were able to keep in touch in the first half, the backs ran some excellent lines and not much new needs to be said about the genius of Will Genia, whose jinking run and try gave New Zealand some nervy moments heading into half-time.
There was, however, a worrying tendency for the Wallabies to look for the killer pass having broken through a tackle, something that in recent years, England have also been guilty off.
It summed up their day when late in the game Lealiifano broke through a couple of tackles and with the line approaching, attempted to offload only for the ball to bounce off the supporting player and back into New Zealand hands.
It was that sort of game though. Aaron Cruden put a restart into touch while both he and Quade Cooper left one short of 10 metres. Cruden’s try came from a charge down, there was a rare scrum turnover and Ben Smith completed his hat-trick when the ball squirted out of a ruck following a missed touch from a New Zealand penalty. Neither side’s lineout was particularly brilliant and Genia’s try came from a New Zealand throw-in.
Talking of Smiths, scrum-half Aaron was lively and his break at the end of some end-to-end stuff brought New Zealand their crucial first try in the second half, dotted down by Conrad Smith, who himself put in a masterful display. He was involved three times in the build-up to Richie McCaw’s try at the end of the first half, each time running a clever line and offloading at the right time, just as he and Israel Dagg did for Ben Smith’s second try, another superb example of the New Zealand at their attacking best. Quick ball, quick hands, great lines, strong finish. No team does it better.
Australia threatened New Zealand’s line on several occasions but lacked the incisiveness to cut through whereas the All Blacks always looked like coming away with points each time they got into Australia’s territory. Mostly they did. Again, no team does it better.
The new scrum laws may take some time for players and fans to get used to. The opening scrum of the game with the new crouch, bind and set rule saw a crooked feed (which was penalised) after both teams had already started to push. They turned into a bit of a mess as the game wore on and the players were clearly uncomfortable.
The only blemish on New Zealand’s day was a late yellow card for Sam Whitelock for what amounted to messing about with the ball when it was Australia’s. A minute later Australia, through James O’Connor, were over the line.
Encouraging signs perhaps, but it is already clear that beating New Zealand when they keep all 15 men on the pitch is going to be a tough task once again this year.
New Zealand 47 (Tries: Ben Smith 3, Aaron Cruden, Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith. Conversions: Cruden 3, Beauden Barrett 1, Penalties: Cruden 3)
Australia 29 (Tries: Will Genia, James O’Connor. Conversions: Lealiifano 2. Penalties: Lealiifano 5)