Wallabies vs. All Blacks: Score, Reaction from Bledisloe Cup 2016 Game 1
New Zealand breezed to victory in the 2016 Bledisloe Cup opener in Sydney on Saturday as they embarrassed Australia with an emphatic 42-8 triumph.
A dominant first-half display left the All Blacks 32-3 to the good, but they never let their momentum slip and continued to put the Wallabies to the sword after the break.
Ahead of the match, it was reported that a listening device had been found at New Zealand’s Sydney hotel, via BBC News, but the All Blacks simply let their rugby do the talking from the off and made Australia look, frankly, silly.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Australia’s Bernard Foley kicked the hosts into a 3-0 lead to spring the scoreboard into life three minutes in, yet just three minutes later, New Zealand got the first try of the day.
Kieran Read found Ryan Crotty on the left flank, and he palmed off David Pocock to dot down. Beauden Barrett added the extras to settle the All Blacks’ nerves.
From then on, New Zealand were relentless. Barrett converted two penalties before showing his electric pace to cross the line himself and put his team 20-3 up.
Dominon Post’s Michael Forbes reflected on the All Blacks’ dominance.
Australia simply couldn’t contain their visitors. They were looking incredibly slow with and without the ball and seemed to be out of ideas even at such an early stage.
It was starting to get embarrassing for the Aussies, but New Zealand were far from finished with the massacre. Jerome Kaino wound back the years by charging down a Foley kick and profiting on the try line, as All Blacks reported:
With just 32 minutes on the clock, the game was well and truly over. Fans had lost their voices, their expectations and their patience in double-quick time.
Journalist Matthew Howard jested at the Australians lack of hope:
There was still time for the All Blacks to complete the perfect first-half performance, as Waisake Naholo scored a try in the final minute of the opening 40.
Barrett was once again the architect, as he wriggled through a series of challenges before feeding Naholo, who powered to the line.
The 32-3 scoreline at half time was nothing more than the All Blacks deserved, but they weren’t about to rest on their laurels and get sloppy. Instead, they went for the jugular.
Dane Coles and Ardie Savea scored tries in quick succession to kick off the second half, although Barrett—seemingly exhausted from ripping Australia to shreds in the first half—missed both conversions, with the score at 42-3.
The damage was already done, however. New Zealand were playing dream rugby, to which the Australians had no answer. Former player Iain Balshaw commented on the All Blacks’ brilliance:
New Zealand’s heaviest defeat over Australia is 37 points, and that record was very much under threat in the final stages.
But when Read was sent to the sin bin for cynical play, the Aussies took full advantage and woke their supporters up with a try.
The ball broke to Nick Phipps on the right wing, and he bundled his way through four All Black defenders to make it 42-8, but that was as good as it got for the hosts.
So the winning-margin record remains in tact, but New Zealand’s dominance in the Bledisloe Cup looks to set to continue.
The All Blacks haven’t tasted defeat in the tournament since way back in 2002, and with home ties in Wellington and Auckland to come, you fear for the Aussies.
The Wallabies must go back to the drawing board and start again. They were far too slow and lacked any kind of ambition on Saturday, so it’s little wonder the best team on the planet made little fuss of picking them off.
Reaction
After the match, Australia captain Stephen Moore says Australia need to buck their ideas up sooner rather than later for the sake of themselves and the fans, via Alan Tyers of Daily Telegraph:
"I feel for all our fans, we are very disappointed. We prepared well and trained hard and we thought we were ready for this game. We have another game next week so we can't just give up now. We need to be positive and we need to turn this around, for our fans, who mean a lot to us."
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
