What a close game it was to bring out Bledisloe Cup I this afternoon from the grandstand at Accor Stadium where the All Blacks got away with a few early tries while the Wallabies benefitted from a series of handling opposition errors where a win was almost possible but not enough time towards the end unfortunately.
The ABs led the Wallabies by 14 points (14-28) at half-time and the Wallabies made most of these unanswered points later on other than the opposition extra lone penalty goal. The final score was 28-31 as the ABs still get to keep the Bledisloe Cup yet again for the 22nd consecutive time going into the 2nd game that will mark the final round of the 2024 Rugby Championship at Eden Park next Saturday in Auckland, although the overall crown will most likely go to the Springboks off the back of their unbeaten 2024 run.
If there’s one person out there who can unlock these gates while adding some conversion kicking swagger, then it’s Damian McKenzie in the All Blacks No.10 shirt. We’ve seen the best of him as always on the counter-attack with a brilliant quick passage of play that reflected the ABs brilliant start and overall first half performance. He could’ve done any better if it wasn’t for these no tries & these poorly timed fumbles but it’s up for everyone else to help him out as if DMac is playing in a Final again (been there more often over the past two years with the Chiefs but still runners-up) next weekend. Although he had some great memories in Wellington though like that semi-finals win a few months ago over the ladder-leading Hurricanes & sure he’ll do his best to produce another A+ grade run there once again (Sky Stadium) but this time at International level.
Next one up is Sevu Reece over in the starting All Blacks wide flank at 14 where he’s been crashing & running at Wallabies defenders for the most part. He’s the one who the ABs benefitted on the short side areas much like Caleb Clarke on the left wing. He can also read off at the right time like these intercepts as well as his sound defending, having made a name of himself plenty of times before & is still here at the Crusaders. Maybe the ABs need him as their only hope too, even though things haven’t been that great at times like we saw today and that two-week Boks tour lately. But safe to say that he & DMac can hoist the Bledisloe for now.
And oh so close for the Wallabies after a near 2nd half resurgence where they could’ve won if it wasn’t for those referee & TMO roulette games. Hard to choose between Tom (Wright) at 15, Fraser (McReight) on the openside 7 or even Tate McDermott at reserve half-back No.9 but Fraser did the heavy lifting though with physical power and pace. He knows what the ABs can’t do which was giving the ball away & Fraser translated it with tries that really threw the opposition under pressure. Imagine if he was playing in a Super Rugby semi-final? (Add Tom and James Slipper in there with Fraser together if you like) He would put any NZ in a tough contest no doubt. But a bad start unfortunately has put the Wallabies in all sorts of trouble as they will go into a match they haven’t won for a long time in NZ territory. Sure, another spiritual performance is always needed like we saw in the 2nd 40 here & the 1st 40 in Dunedin last year but still no Bledisloe Cup for them yet again.