The All Blacks are the kings of the south. For the 4th consecutive time and the 20th time in their history, the New Zealanders have won the Rugby Championship thanks to their 38-7 victory at the Cricket Ground in Melbourne on Saturday against Australia. Authors of a faultless after two victories against Argentina (41-12) and South Africa (35-20), the Blacks concluded a perfect preparation before the World Cup in France (September 8 – 28 october). The last meeting will oppose South Africa to Argentina this Saturday at 5:05 p.m.
Australia showed better from their two previous defeats against the Springboks and then the Pumas. But Eddie Jones’ men only existed for half an hour before collapsing, against the still impressive New Zealanders. The start of the match set the tone with big entry contacts and solid defenses like Scott Barrett author of a very strong tackle but in the rule on the opposing scrum half Tate McDermott. The action offered the first try of the game to his teammate Shannon Frizell who only had to flatten the ball once on the ground (4th).
The Australian reaction was not long in coming with a test granted after video review to the 3rd center line Valetini (8th). Subsequently, the debates were rebalanced and the Australian defense was solid with many scraped balls, especially during the first half hour like Will Skelton, very active on the ground.
The Australian defense showed signs of fatigue, losing effectiveness in the face of repeated New Zealand waves. The try refused to Telea who quickly played a penalty 5 meters before scoring (for an illegal face-off) only postponed the deadline. Costing Eddie Jones’ men a yellow card awarded to winger Marika Koroibete (26th).
The Blacks took advantage of this with two tries in the last ten minutes of the first period thanks to Codie Taylor (34th) and Will Jordan (40° 1). The mark only increased during the second act with three additional tries, from Caleb Clarke (59th), Mark Telea (65th) then Rieko Ioane (67th). Ian Foster’s men were well helped by the yellow card of Tupou (57th), who had replaced the injured Ala’alatoa (38th) earlier. The Wallabies captain was in bad shape just over a month from the start of the World Cup.
The XV of France is warned after the show of force of the men of Ian Foster during this Rugby Championship. The opening match of the World Cup promises sparks.