Mo’unga magic to fore in record victory by ABs
RUGBY Bledisloe Cup
SYDNEY: The All Blacks served up a Halloween nightmare for an inexperienced Wallabies side by romping to a record 435 victory in the TriNations opener on Saturday night and claiming the Bledisloe Cup for an 18th successive year.
All Black first fiveeighth Richie Mo’unga scored two brilliant tries in six firsthalf minutes and forwards Karl Tu’inukuafe and Dane Coles also crossed as the visiting side raced to a 260 lead in just half an hour.
The pain eased for the crowd of 25,689 at the Olympic Stadium early in the second half when Australia No 10 Noah Lolesio scored a try on his test debut but Rieko Ioane and Jordie Barrett blew out the score in the last 10 minutes.
Mo’unga converted five of the All Blacks’ six tries and added a penalty to take his tally to 23 points and ensure the highest victory margin for the All Blacks in 169 tests against their neighbour.
The Wallabies had gone into the first test on Australian soil this year with hopes high but Dave Rennie’s inexperienced side made too many errors and was ruthlessly punished for them.
The loss combined with a 1616 draw and a 277 defeat in New Zealand earlier this month handed the All Blacks the Bledisloe Cup with next week’s fourth test in Brisbane to spare.
‘‘That trophy means a lot to us,’’ All Black captain Sam Cane said.
‘‘I’m really proud of the boys, all the hard work we’ve done and how we’ve improved every week and I’m really excited about where this group can go.’’
Australia’s young side probably needed everything to go right for it to have a chance of beating the clinical All Blacks but it was on the back foot as early as the third minute.
Filipo Daugunu was shown a yellow card for upending a jumping Caleb Clarke, although he appeared a little unfortunate having been nudged into his fellow winger’s path by Cane.
Tu’inukuafe charged over the Australian line with players unmarked outside him two minutes later and, even if Jordie Barrett was also sent to the sin bin soon afterwards for an elbow to Nic White’s face, the All Blacks remained in charge.
Coles and Clarke had tries rubbed out by the TMO but there was no question of any intervention when Mo’unga swept around the back of a scrum and beat Wallabies hooker Brandon PaengaAmosa for pace to touch down in the 21st minute.
The first fiveeighth’s second came courtesy of a neat chip and chase in midfield and the All Blacks pack drove over the Australia line in the 30th minute for the fourth unanswered try.
A rampaging run from centre Jordan Petaia set up Lolesio’s try and gave Australia the first score of the second half but the Wallabies continued to make too many mistakes to mount a serious comeback.
‘‘You can’t turn over the ball as often as we did, it puts you under too much pressure,’’ said Australia coach Dave Rennie.
‘‘You have to pay credit to New Zealand. Their skill set was outstanding given the conditions. I thought they were top notch and we were a long way off the mark.’’ — Reuters