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Wallabies rally to beat All Blacks

Substitute Scott Staniforth scored late in the second half as Australia rallied to beat New Zealand 20-15 yesterday for the Wallabies' first win over the All Blacks in almost four years.

After the All Blacks dominated the first half, Australia made the most of a man advantage after All Blacks prop Carl Hayman was sinbinned in the 62nd minute, scoring two tries in nine minutes to claim an unlikely victory in front of a crowd of 79,322 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa now share five points apiece after two matches in the Tri-Nations tournament and the Wallabies have a 1-0 lead over the All Blacks after the first match of the three-game Bledisloe Cup series -- the regular series between the Tasman rivals.

Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock said the massive crowd, which also included thousands of All Blacks supporters, lifted his team in the final 20 minutes.

"It was a great effort, a long time coming for us and we've been close a number of times," he said. "A great crowd -- they really got behind us and brought us home."

The Wallabies got off to a disastrous start when Julian Huxley kicked the ball out on the full to start the match. The All Blacks turned the resulting scrum win into a lineout win in the Australian half before prop Tony Woodcock barged over for a try in the fourth minute to make it 7-0.

Despite sharing possession in the first period, the Australians were unable to convert possession into points until Mortlock narrowed the deficit with his first of two penalty kicks in the 14th minute.

New Zealand flyhalf Dan Carter responded by kicking three points of his own five minutes later and the All Blacks took a 15-6 lead into halftime after outside center Luke McAllister broke through the Wallabies defense in the 26th minute, creating an overlap and an easy try in the corner for Rico Gear.

The lead could have been larger, but the All Blacks squandered a scoring opportunity in the 34th minute when, after working the ball deep into the Australian half, backrower Rodney So'oialo dropped the ball in sight of the tryline.

Both sides shared possession at the beginning of the second half, but only New Zealand looked truly dangerous with the ball until Hayman was sinbinned for repeated ruck infractions.

The Australians quickly took the initiative, working the ball within 5m of the New Zealand tryline where winger Adam Ashley-Cooper culminated a backline move in the 64th minute and broke through attempted tackles from Richie McCaw and Chris Jack to score.

Matt Giteau's conversion put Australia within reach at 15-13 and Staniforth gave Australia the lead for the first time in the 73rd minute after Mortlock eluded two tackles, drew in the defense and delivered a well-timed, one-handed pass.

Another Giteau conversion gave Australia a five point lead.

All Blacks captain McCaw insisted the result wouldn't put a big dent in their World Cup hopes.

"It's a reality check but there's a lot of rugby left this year," he said.
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