Anzac Test match review: Australia v. New Zealand at Brisbane

A spate of four tries in the twenty minutes leading up to half-time, coupled with a twenty-minute period of superlative defensive work after the break, have ensured that New Zealand retain bragging rights in the battle of the two finest exponent nations of le rugby à treize.

Australia attacked hard early, and when they won a penalty in front of goal against the run of play in the eighth minute, an unsure New Zealand took the two points. Five minutes later, a goal-line drop-out was returned for a Kangaroo try, Cooper Cronk hitting Sam Thaiday with a low, flat pass. And then the avalanche began.

In the twentieth minute, St. George winger Jason Nightingale intercepted an Australian pass, and the All Golds hustled the ball up the low-grade Lang Park turf, Manu Vatuvei doing the honours. The same player doubled his try tally eight minutes later, catching a sixth-tackle kick and bustling over in the corner. Then, in a manner reminiscent of Germany’s domination of the restarts in their 7-1 win over Brazil in last year’s World Cup semi-final, i bianconeri needed only one set of six to go from kick-off receivers to try-scorers; this time it was Shaun Johnson diving through the Australian defence.

The nightmare wasn’t over for the home side. A Cronk fumble was followed in short order by a penalty, which led to a Nightingale kick. Greg Inglis uncharacteristically miscued his jump, leaving Easts centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall with little to do but pounce on the loose ball, grounding just as the clock ticked over to complete its fortieth minute.

What followed after the break was quite possibly one of the finest displays of goal-line defending ever witnessed. On five occasions leading up to the fifty-eighth minute did la oro y verde advance to within metres of the Kiwi line; on five occasions were they denied. Josh Dugan was forced into touch in-goal; Cronk was tackled short of the line by Roger Tuivasa-Sheck; Dugan went close again but could only engineer a scrum from a Vatuvei knock on.

It was only on their sixth forward thrust of the period that Australia were able to score, Melbourne Storm centre Will Chambers narrowing the deficit to sixteen points, and Jonathan Thurston’s conversion shaving off two more. But that, aside from a forward pass denying Luke Lewis a try and an offside call denying Kenny-Dowall a second, was to be all she wrote.

Australia 12 – New Zealand 26

Tries: Thaiday 13’; Chambers 59’ (Aust.); Vatuvei 20’, 28’; Johnson 32’; Kenny-Dowall 40’ (N. Z.)

Conversions: Thurston 2/2 (Aust.); Johnson 3/4 (N. Z.)

Penalties: Johnson 2/2 (N. Z.)