All Black coach Scott Robertson would’ve known it was coming and didn’t have to wait long to be asked how it felt to achieve victory in Wellington.
“The land, the whenua, we showed a bit more respect to it. We realised a performance like that is what it deserved,” he said after his side’s 33-13 Bledisloe Cup win over the Wallabies at Sky Stadium on Saturday night.
Read how the game unfolded
The All Blacks had infamously not won in Wellington for six years, with a number of the current team still in high school at the time. However, that doesn’t seem as bad when considering quite a few of the Wallabies would’ve still been wearing nappies the last time the Bledisloe Cup resided in Australia.
Wallaby coach Joe Schmidt lamented his side’s lapse at the end of the first half that saw Caleb Clarke cross for the All Blacks to make the score 19-13 in the All Blacks’ favour.
New Zealand’s Caleb Clarke scores a try.
Photo: Kerry Marshall / www.photosport.nz
“It was a tough blow to take, if we could’ve gone in with the score 13-12 that would’ve given us a lot more impetus in the second half. The first 25 minutes of the second half we had to work really hard to keep them out, that didn’t happen all the time,” said Schmidt, whose side finished the Rugby Championship only having won one test match.
Robertson was pleased with the All Black effort, which certainly answered a few questions hanging around over their lack of attacking success in the back end of test matches. However, he was most happy with the fact that while Fraser McReight scored early, the Wallabies didn’t get another try in the entire game.
“Five tries to one, there were some great defensive efforts. You’ve got to hand it to the Wallabies, they played some good footy, man. Our goal line defence was test standard, but we took our opportunities, we got the ball down over the line. I’m really pleased with a lot of aspects… but we’ve got a lot more in us.”
Robertson praised fullback Will Jordan, who had a very productive game at fullback, and boom rookie Wallace Sititi was once again impressive.
“I’m really pleased for Will; he owned it and took his opportunities. [Wallace] is a great kid, isn’t he? He’s a man of faith and he believes in himself, got a great skillset and he’s tough.”
Wallace Sititi.
Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
During the Wallaby post-match press conference the walls echoed with the sound of the All Blacks performing a particularly spirited haka for Sam Cane on his 100th test, led by the departing TJ Perenara. Captain Scott Barrett said that there was “a lot of emotion” in the All Blacks’ changing room.
“That’s only natural for how much they love this team, the love they’ve put into this jersey over the past 10 or so years. So that’s what was vibrating through the walls,” said Barrett.
Reflecting on the Rugby Championship, which was sealed by the Springboks on Sunday morning with their 48-7 win over the Pumas in Mbolemba, Robertson rued a few key incidents in his side’s three losses.
“We probably could’ve won every game. There’s moments, big moments where momentum swings. Ref calls, your own calls or game management, the key moments that you’ve got to get right. One focus is our discipline, that’s something we’ve just got to get better at,” he said.
Barrett said that overall the progression of the team was positive.
“We’re trending, we’re learning. Possibly not as quick as we’d like to but I guess this team is coming together, making adjustments…tonight we showed plenty of grit there on the line. We set a standard there of what’s required.”
The All Blacks reassemble at the end of next month for a tough end of year tour, where they play Japan, England, Ireland, France and Italy on consecutive weeks.
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