The Wallabies won a nail-biting final Bledisloe Cup Test in Hong Kong 26-24 with the last kick of the game yesterday to end a 10-game losing streak against the All Blacks.
Australia were trailing until the final seconds and facing a 4-0 series whitewash until man-of-the-hour James O’Connor converted his own stoppage-time try to secure the match for the Wallabies.
Tries by Quade Cooper and Adam Ashley-Cooper had put Australia in front, but Jimmy Cowan and Corey Jane went over for the All Blacks to hand them a 17-12 lead at the break, which was extended by Ma’a Nonu.
PHOTO: REUTERS
However, a try by Wallaby winger Drew Mitchell kept Australia in touch, before O’Connor’s heroics had the Australian contingent in Hong Kong roaring in delight.
New Zealand, who had clinched the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup for the eighth straight year after winning in Christchurch in August, had won their past 10 encounters with Australia, including three victories in this year’s Tri-Nations.
Much had been made of the match-up between flyhalves Dan Carter, for the All Blacks, and Wallabies young pretender Cooper, as well as the back row contest between Kiwi Richie McCaw and David Pocock, but it was in the front five that the early battles were won and lost, with the Wallabies moving quickly through the gears to open the try-scoring, before the All Blacks had managed to leave their half when Cooper carried over from 18 yards.
The Wallabies ratcheted up the pressure with a series of punts down the All Blacks’ throats, before Ashley-Cooper ghosted past two tackles for a superb 40m solo try under the posts, converted by center Matt Giteau for a 10-0 lead.
It was an all-too--familiar story as the All Blacks responded on the half hour with a try between the sticks from scrumhalf Cowan and another straight from the kick-off by winger Jane, both converted cooly by Carter, who added a penalty on halftime.
The All Blacks were first to score in the second half after absorbing some initial pressure from the Wallabies, with center Ma’a Nonu crossing after quick ball from the breakdown for an easy run-in converted by the peerless Carter, but Australia managed for the first time in the series to keep the All Blacks under pressure for the full 80 minutes and Mitchell’s lightning turn of pace and O’Connor’s heroics earned them a standing ovation on the final whistle.
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