Rugby Championship: Five takeaways from Wallabies v All Blacks ...

Following the All Blacks’ 38-7 victory over the Wallabies that secured the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship, here’s our five takeaways from the game. 

A packed Melbourne Cricket Ground was treated to a feast of All Black brilliance in Bledisloe I as the visitors pressed the accelerator pedal with a dominant performance based upon simple pragmatic ball retention and dominance of the breakdown area, led by an outstanding performance from lock Scott Barrett and the back-row as they retained the Bledisloe Cup for the 21st consecutive year.

It was one of those games where the Wallabies promised so much in the early exchanges, leading the game for the first quarter until sustained pressure by the All Blacks for the next 20 saw them camp in the Wallaby half for the entire period. It was a telling spell, one driven in part by the Wallaby disruption and commitment to tackle, but one where the composure of New Zealand with ball in hand was admirable. 21 phases just before half-time saw unusual patience with possession and inevitably the Aussie defence eventually broke to allow the excellent Will Jordan to scoot over for an important score.

Four more second-half tries, all founded by a fantastic 20 minutes of defence by New Zealand in the start of the period showed their outstanding form but the match for most part was a lot closer than the scoreline suggested.

Composure and technical excellence were the absolute bedrocks of the New Zealand effort. This wasn’t one of their open, running performances from transition ball, but more so one of outstanding accuracy and intelligence.

Alongside Barrett’s wonderful performance – he was the architect of two of the All Black tries, notably one thundering hit on Tate McDermott that saw Shannon Frizell cross off a defensive Wallaby lineout – Ardie Savea put in a display of dogged determination at the breakdown, turning the Aussies over on at least four occasions and the whole of the New Zealand pack put in massive shifts – whether in defence or in attack.

With an obvious edge in pace in the back three and a definite edge in fitness, as the game went on and scramble situations emerged, so the momentum swung, and on the 58th minute the huge defensive efforts of the All Blacks to shut the Wallabies admirable efforts out were rewarded with Caleb Clarke crashing over from short range after outstanding work from Savea and his carriers.

With Rieko Ioane adding one to pin up on the art gallery wall towards the end, New Zealand will be delighted with their 80 minute performance – one that underlined the outstanding nature of their core rugby skills.

Eddie Jones and Australia have a lot to be pleased about in this match. They ran hard and direct into contact, their power players made a lot of yards in the initial stages and some big players, Will Skelton and Rob Valetini in particular, put in some impressive moments.

Australia were quite fantastic in the early exchanges – they got their runners onto the ball from deep in straight and direct lines, with some of the back play weaving in typical Jones patterns, using a 1/3/3 formation to move the ball at close quarters in a zigzag to change the point of attack. Valetini’s try was just reward for that attacking ambition and after 20 minutes it all looked rosy for the hosts, especially as they also managed to throw men into the breakdown and cause New Zealand a few issues on their own ball.

But the final 2% was missing; in Test rugby there’s a fine line between mediocrity and excellence and time and time again the Wallabies failed to execute some pretty basic skills. The blown lineout that led to the Frizell try was a case of a guard missing his role in the line out; the restart by Carter Gordon that went two metres forward was a criminal error at this level and as the match went on, so the fatigue errors multiplied and the Aussie effort fell off.

???? #BledisloeCup and #RugbyChampionship joy for All Blacks! #AUSvNZL pic.twitter.com/UJj4Bc0Fz9

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) July 29, 2023

Much was made before the start of the introduction to Test rugby of the young pivot Gordon and in many respects he demonstrated enough promise to retain his place next weekend. He’s clearly a man who relishes passing at close range and he is prepared to challenge defences by standing flat or running on the ball from deep.

His passing was fast and decisive, especially in that early 20 minute period where he really moved the All Black defence around by standing flat and getting the ball to big carriers quickly, with also a much improved ruck speed time from his forwards, thus enabling those changes of attacking points we alluded to earlier.

But playing 10 at Test level against the best teams in the world also needs control – control in exit, kick execution and territory. There were times when he failed in this respect, getting hurried in his choices by the fire in the All Black defence and some of his kick work was absolutely substandard, both out of the hand and off the tee, at this level.

Elsewhere, the displays of Angus Bell, McDermott and the bench cameo from Izaia Perese will have fully vindicated Jones’ selections, but as he moves into the Bledisloe II next week in Dunedin, he will be looking for a huge improvement in final execution from his team.

The Wallaby trip to Dunedin could be a painful one next weekend. They’re likely to be without their two premier tightheads in Taniela Tupou and Allan Alaalatoa as both are carrying significant injuries – an Achilles and rib respectively. The drop off to the next best in Australia is massive and the front-row will be a focal point for Jones in the week ahead.

He’ll also want to see a massive step up in last quarter fitness and bench impact. In all their games this season in the Rugby Championship the Wallabies have faltered in the final 20 minutes and there must be growing concerns about their relative cardiovascular levels compared to the rest of the teams. It will be interesting to see if he persists with Gordon at 10 – there was enough promise to suggest he’s got the basics, but as mentioned, his execution and game control need to go up several notches, but that can only be achieved with match time.

New Zealand can afford to experiment a little next weekend, safe in the knowledge that the Bledisloe Cup is retained. Expect to see a few tweaks in selection with Samisoni Taukei’aho, Sam Whitelock and Anton Lienert-Brown rumoured to be starting on a squad rotation policy from Ian Foster.

What the All Blacks will want is to retain the composure and accuracy they displayed today and possibly bolt on the explosiveness we witnessed in their demolition of South Africa a fortnight ago. Whilst the Wallabies are learning and improving, New Zealand are refining and honing and look several steps ahead of both Australia and the rest of the Rugby Championship teams.

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