Australia vs. New Zealand: Winners and Losers in 2015 Rugby Championship Game
Australia ended their four-year wait for a win over New Zealand on Saturday after defeating their old enemies 27-19 in Sydney to clinch their first Rugby Championship title.
Sekope Kepu, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Nick White came up with a trio of second-half tries to give Michael Cheika's side their first victory over New Zealand since winning the 2011 Tri Nations championship.
Saturday's result marks a momentous day for the Wallabies in their bid to return to former greatness, having endured a disappointing period in their history over recent years.
And though Steve Hansen's All Blacks fought hard, it's undoubtedly the Wallabies who walk away from Sydney's ANZ Stadium with the greater share of plaudits, with the winners and losers of the tie discussed ahead.
Winner: Wallabies' World Cup Hopes
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Australia will certainly cherish this moment, but there's hardly time for the Wallabies to sit back and savour their Rugby Championship triumph for too long before they have to look toward the World Cup later this year.
That being said, taking an upper hand in this year's Bledisloe Cup series bodes well for the nation's hopes in England, where they find themselves lobbed in the dreaded Pool of Death.
In particular, hosts England and Wales look daunting while the threat of Fiji isn't to be underestimated, but a win over the top-ranked team will give Cheika's men tremendous confidence.
It was during the Six Nations that the success of improving Welsh and English outfits appeared to rule out Australia's hopes of advancing, but the southern-hemisphere giants appear to be peaking at just the right time.
Loser: New Zealand's Rugby Championship Run
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For so long, New Zealand have been the team to beat not only in their half of the world but in rugby as a whole, claiming three back-to-back Rugby Championships between 2012 and 2015.
With the tournament shortened to just three rounds this year, the All Blacks had just one home fixture to look forward to, and perhaps travelling away to Australia and South Africa had an impact on their fortunes.
In 2012 and 2013, the All Blacks were far and away the best team on show, winning the competition by 14 and nine points respectively, before beating the Springboks by a more marginal three points last year.
The were team ultimately unable to match their record of the four successive southern-hemisphere crowns they claimed between 2005 and 2008 and will now seek redemption at Eden Park on Saturday.
Winner: The Hooper-Pocock Axis
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Playing with two refined No. 7 specialists in former captain Michael Hooper and the fit-again David Pocock was seen as a risk by some prior to Saturday's kickoff—it proved to be anything but.
The tireless pair were crucial in limiting the influence of Richie McCaw—who tied Brian O'Driscoll's all-time Test record of 141 matches on Saturday—and New Zealand's other back-row weapons.
Rugby World writer Ian Stafford hailed the influence of the tandem, two players who consistently made their presence felt against the All Blacks in the stealing and retaining of possession.
Cheika now knows the formula works and that it's not entirely necessary for an exclusive No. 6 to be in play, with the future looking bright for Australia's new premier flanker combination.
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Loser: Aaron Smith
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Witnessing an All Blacks scrum-half go to extreme heights in any tackle is something of a rare sight, but it just so happened that one such instance occurred and proved to be particularly costly to his side on Saturday.
Adam Ashley-Cooper was left in a heap after Aaron Smith received a yellow card for his high hit on the Wallabies back, and his sin-binning gave Kepu the opportunity he needed for an early second-half try.
That opening score of the match seemed to open the floodgates for a deluge of tries from both outfits, and Smith was again partly to blame for Nick White's crucial score later on in the match.
By and large, Smith has been a consistently reliable No. 9 for his nation and arguably still sits as the best in the world on his day—this was not one of those.
Winner: Nehe Milner-Skudder
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It may have ultimately ended in disappointment, but Nehe Milner-Skudder gained validation as a Test player on Saturday, scoring a brace of tries on his debut to justify his selection on the right wing.
The speedster has been in talismanic form for the Hurricanes all year, and that success translated seamlessly to the international stage in Sydney.
As shown by Eat Sleep Rugby, there was contention regarding Milner-Skudder's second score as to whether he actually grounded the ball, but Hansen will nonetheless have considered his effect to be substantial.
The winger finished with a match-high 128 carrying metres to his name, and there would appear to be only bigger things to come from one of the most exciting talents in the world right now.
All statistics courtesy of ESPN Scrum.
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