A massive comeback by Australia was not enough to secure a win against the All Blacks at Accor Stadium in Sydney. The Bledisloe Cup will stay in New Zealand for another year after the All Blacks escaped with a 31-28 win.

The All Blacks put the first points on the board with a try after fullback Will Jordan took advantage of a broken defence to score under the posts. Barely ten minutes later, centre Rieko Ioane doubled the All Black’s lead – finishing an outstanding counter-attack. Winger Caleb Clarke made it three in a row for the visitors before flanker Fraser McReight finally got the hosts on the board to cut the All Black’s lead back to 14.

What a match! The Bledisloe Cup stays in Aotearoa ??#AllBlacks #BledisloeCup pic.twitter.com/G9OWqdmki1

— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) September 21, 2024

Ardie Savea then scored for New Zealand under the posts to restore the 21-point lead, but hooker Matt Faessler scored a crucial try near halftime to keep the Wallabies in the contest, trailing by 14 at the break.

The Wallabies looked sharper in the second half maybe in part thanks to James Slipper taking the field and officially setting a new games record of 140 Test matches for Australia, breaking former skipper George Gregan’s record.  

Hunter Paisami scored first for the hosts to cut the lead to 10 with 15 minutes to play.  A try by Tom Wright in the 79th minute put the Wallabies within spitting distance of a win, but the All Blacks held on to emerge victorious.

‘A bitter pill to swallow’

The closeness of their loss is a bitter pill for Wallabies captain Harry Wilson to swallow. He told Stan Sport after the match that they were gutted at not getting the result they wanted. 

“Giving a 21-point headstart to the All Blacks is always going to make it tough for us but super proud of the effort and the way we fought back there,” he said.

Both teams scored four tries – and neither kicker missed (McKenzie 5/5, Lolosio 4/4). New Zealand will host Australia next week at the Sky Stadium.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger cg