The All Blacks extended their extraordinary unbeaten record at Eden Park to 54 matches with a commanding 50-19 victory over Australia, securing the Bledisloe Cup for a 24th successive year.
The Wallabies threatened an upset when Tom Wright crossed early and remained within three points at halftime, but New Zealand unleashed a devastating second-half assault, scoring four unanswered tries to maintain Australia’s four-decade winless streak in Auckland.
Damian McKenzie orchestrated the attack superbly, while Peter Lakai and Wallace Sititi delivered powerful performances up front.
The emphatic triumph, played before nearly 50,000 spectators, also marked the international returns of Scott Barrett and Shannon Frizell and ended a three-match losing streak for Dave Rennie’s side.
Strange.
ABs lose 3 in a row to south africa.
An 11 man Australia beats SA.
Then the ABs crush the Australians.
The australian game had its share of crooked refereeing: the supposed collapsed mall, the unpunished hip drop tackle on Carter, the Aussies consistently closing the lineout gap before the throw, and aussies consistenly standing in front of the last foot at the breakdown. But the Irish referee was a lot more even handed than the English twats.