All Blacks rewrite the record books in style
AUCKLAND — New Zealand overwhelmed Australia 37-10 on Saturday in the third Bledisloe Cup rugby Test to post a world record 18th-straight Test win.
The All Blacks outscored Australia six tries to one to surpass the record streak of the New Zealand team which won 17 Tests between 1965 and 1969, the Springboks who won the same number in the late 1990s and a later All Blacks team whose 17-match streak was ended by Australia in 2014.
New Zealand faced a much more competitive Australia team on Saturday than the ones they had beaten 42-8 and 29-9 in earlier Bledisloe Cup matches this season to extend their 14year hold on that trophy.
New Zealand also continued their winning streak against Australia at Eden Park which stretches back 30 years to 1986 and remained unbeaten against the Wallabies at all New Zealand venues since 2001.
The All Blacks remain unbeaten in a world record 45 Tests at home since 2009 and Kieran Read became the first Test captain to lead his team to 19 consecutive Test victories.
“We had a good buildup during the week and there was a lot of talk in the media about the record,” Read said. “I’m really stoked for the lads.
“The Wallabies really brought it to us tonight. We had to dig deep. It took 70-odd minutes before we really opened them up.”
The records helped to disguise the worst performance by the All Blacks this season, which was induced by a combative Australian team.
After scoring three early tries, New Zealand was bustled into errors by the Wallabies who were especially aggressive and competitive at the tackle and at breakdowns, winning more than 60 percent of possession and spending more than seven minutes inside the All Blacks’ 22. “They put us under pressure in certain areas and played really well in doing that,” Read said. “I think once we held onto the ball we were much better and it was pretty awesome there at the end.”
The difference between the teams was finishing ability, as it has been repeatedly between New Zealand all of the teams it has faced since their winning streak began at Eden Park in August 2015.
New Zealand had a handful of scoring chances on Saturday and converted nearly all of them. Australia had few and converted only one, though they also had a try contentiously disallowed during the second half which would have drawn it level with New Zealand at 15-15.
That incident and another almost immediately afterward highlighted one of the weaknesses of this Wallabies team under its current coach Michael Cheika.
In the 45th minute Henry Speight was dashing away to score the try which would have tied the scores when his winger Dane Haylett-Petty shoulder checked All Blacks winger Julian Savea who was in fruitless pursuit. Savea wouldn’t have prevented the try being scored but Haylett-Petty’s action, spotted by the video referee, led to Speight’s try being disallowed.