Ma'a Nonu: Prepares for the hit
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Australia ended New Zealand's 16-match winning streak with an 18-all draw at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.
Though honours were shared by the trans-Tasman rivals, Australia will treat this result as a mental victory seeing that Robbie Deans' troops weren't given a chance in hell of matching the All Blacks prior to kick-off.
In a match decided exclusively by penalties, Kurtley Beale and Mike Harris combined for 18 points for Australia, while Daniel Carter slotted six penalties for the All Blacks.
But with the scores locked at 18 points apiece at the death, the world champions were camped in the Australia's 22 and Carter was given one last opportunity to kick a drop-goal to hand the All Blacks victory.
His shot was just wide, however, and the match ended in a hard-fought draw.
New Zealand were bidding to join the 1969 All Blacks and 1998 Springboks with 17 successive victories but were once again foiled by the Wallabies, who ended New Zealand's unbeaten 15-match run in a 26-24 win in Hong Kong in 2010.
Harris was on great form in the first half, kicking all his four penalty goal attempts to give the under-strength Wallabies a 12-6 half-time advantage.
The Wallabies began well when they charged down a clearing kick in the opening seconds only for the ball to elude Adam Ashley-Cooper over the dead-ball line.
Carter kicked the All Blacks to a 6-3 lead before New Zealand came the closest to scoring in the first half through winger Hosea Gear. Israel Dagg's kick ahead was just forced dead by Harris with Gear in hot pursuit midway through the half.
Wallabies' blindside flanker Scott Higginbotham could be in hot water after his scuffle with All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw. Higginbotham appeared to knee McCaw in the head to trigger the skirmish before appearing to head-butt the All Blacks skipper on the ground. Both players were cautioned by referee Craig Joubert.
Joubert made good on his warning of 'next one goes' when he gave All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock a yellow card for repeated ruck infringements on the half-time siren.
Harris kicked his fourth penalty to give the Wallabies a six-point buffer at the turnaround. Beale lifted the Wallabies' confidence even further with a prodigious penalty from just inside his own half for a 15-6 lead.
But Carter kicked his third penalty and the Wallabies lost openside flanker Michael Hooper to the sin-bin after taking out All Blacks scrum-half Aaron Smith after he had kicked ahead.
Carter then pulled New Zealand to within three points with the resulting penalty in the 56th minute.
Australia lost a line-out on their throw giving the All Blacks possession inside their quarter and they mounted successive mauls before they received a penalty for Carter to level the scores at 15-15 with 13 minutes left.
New Zealand got the big breakthrough when Adam Ashley-Cooper spilled Aaron Cruden's high kick and Nick Phibbs was in an off-side position in picking up the ball for an All Blacks penalty.
Carter kicked his sixth penalty nine minutes from time to edge New Zealand in front and in sight of victory. But Harris levelled with his fifth penalty with five minutes left in what proved to be the final score.
Man of the match: Kurtely Beale was Australia's most dangerous player and skipper Nathan Sharpe led from the front, but Kieran Read once again loomed large for the All Blacks. The number eight was heavily involved throughout and deservedly named the official man-of-the-match at Suncorp Stadium.
Moment of the match: Geez, take your pick! But in the end it just has to be Carter's last-gasp drop-goal attempt.
Villain of the match: Two yellow issued - one to Tony Woodcock and the other to Michael Hooper. But the real villain that got away was Scott Higginbotham after his headbutt on Richie McCaw.
The scorers:
For Australia:
Pens: Beale 2, Harris 4
For New Zealand:
Pens: Carter 6
Yellow cards: Tony Woodcock (NZ), Michael Hooper (Aus)
The teams:
Australia: 15 Mike Harris, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Ben Tapuai, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe (c), 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 James Slipper, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Kane Douglas, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Brett Sheehan, 22 Drew Mitchell.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 Owen Franks, 18 Luke Romano, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Ben Smith.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Comments
Carpelone says...
7ton
I got one ;-)
Posted 11:21 25th October 2012
turmeric says...
Haha, you've flushed one out mate. There are only two positions in the ABs which I am only slightly worried about in terms of the AB aging population, hooker and centre. Have you guys been watching any of the ITM cup?? There is some serious talent coming through and I have no doubts what so ever that this AB team is gonna stay on top of the world for the next 4 years. Here's a few names of young lads coming through (some less obscure than others):
Charles Piutau, Ben Lam, Steven Luatua, Ardie Savea, Johnny McNicholl, Bundee Aki, Tom Taylor and TJ Perenara.
Not to mention the ABs already have young talent like Cane, A. Smith, Barrett, Cruden, Retallick, and Savea already there.
All those guys with season ABs who are also gona be around for the next few years at least I just don't see OZ of SA bumping us for a good while yet.
Posted 00:49 25th October 2012
Carpelone says...
I agree too, there are many talents in New Zealand as well as in South Africa.
Substituting the best ever fly half will not be easy and should reduce the current gap.
And don't worry about breakfast, Springboks are vegetarians and happily graze in the open veld.
I was trying to fish some of your fellow countrymen, but with no success.
Posted 15:53 24th October 2012
7ton says...
Carpelone
Apart from the baby boks breakfast comment I do agree with you.
The AB'S need to bring in the younger guys very soon if they want to retain the WC in 2015. I suppose they were going for that record but we had guys like Sam Cane spending too much time on the bench.
Plenty of fresh talent coming through in NZ and I would wager that in 2 years you will be spluttering in your beer as they run your boks ragged. Lol!
Posted 13:41 24th October 2012
Carpelone says...
As I tried to explain to some Kiwi posters, Old Blacks are the best at the moment, but they are not that good.
Key players (McCaw, Carter, Smith and Nonu) are aging and it will be a hell of work to find decent substitutes.
In a year or two, the Baby Boks will eat the Old Blacks for breakfast.
Posted 10:03 23rd October 2012
Ramage says...
Isn't georgesmith a wonderful representative of the idiots who cant see past their own blindness. Have you noticed how he has changed his hatred and quietened down about the "no hoper," Sharpe who rose to lead OZ in their hour of need. How his hatred of the coach has disappeared when only a week ago he was asking for the useless Kiwi coach to be kicked back to NZ. Now he has latched on to showing bile and hatred of Richie McCaw. Sorry georgesmith you are a johnnycumlately as there are others who hopped on that bandwagon before.
I see he finds no problem with foul play directed at players as Higginbottom and Greyling did no wrong. It seems georgesmith condones violence on the rugby field outside the laws of the game because in his opinion Richie McCaw is a cheat. Now he has joined, once again ,very lately the conspiracy theorists from elsewhere who believe the IRB are trying to fix games. Honestly this georgesmith is really 6 bottles short of a half dozen.
One good thing though he has changed his tack and after being wrong about Sharpe wrong about Deans wrong wrong wrong every time he puts pen to paper. He is also wrong about the cheating as it is a referee, not him, who decides what is cheating. However at least georgesmith is getting stuck into the opposition instead of being the biggest traitor to the Wallaby cause that ever graced these pages. WELL DONE georgesmith have you seen the light and got in behind the Wallabies. You might even post saying how proud you are of your Captain NathanSharpe and your coach Robbie Deans who led the only team in World Rugby who have been able to stop the All Blacks from winning a game. We even have a team that has had a Planet Rugby ( Ross Hastie) win against the All Blacks this year. I await the next post from georgesmith where he comes out admits he was wrong and starts praising both Nathan and Robbie. Do pigs fly?
Posted 08:55 23rd October 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
sorry guys consective games without loss! was what I was supposed to write!
Posted 23:45 22nd October 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
@melkdave spot on Bro That last feed to the scrum from our penalty was almost put in on Reids feet!! he he I turned round to the Mrs & said we should have been pinged!
Good positve posts! Dont by into this 2nd string team business as using your "SOUND LOGIC" this team has performed better than your previous 17 loss First string OZ TEAMS?? hehe..(spin doctoring) there are always flip sides to logic you may refuse to recognise.However this was a pretty awesome display from a very determined Aussie team..i disagree that the All blacks were bad..they were just put under a lot of pressure! (they actually looked tired)..Oz had every right to win this game just a few non-pressured handling errors off a great win. How history repeats..My Best AB's team (87) had the exact same result they have the most consecutive wins by an international team..should have been consecutive wins1 BUT GROUNDHOG DAY the flippin Wallabies had a draw with them (deserved too).Team of the test 15.Harris 14.honeybadger 13.B.smith 12.nonu 11.jane 10.Beale 9.phipps 8.Reid (80mins) 7.Hooper 6.Messam 5.Sharpe 4.Rettalic 3.Famuina 2 polata player of game 1.Robinson
Posted 23:43 22nd October 2012
philipjfry says...
@rugby_rockstar: And he has a 'fro to die for.
Posted 19:48 22nd October 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
Northern Hem, beware of Tatafu Polota. Awesome ball carrying. He could give OZ front foot ball in the loose and that'll shock teams if they are expecting to steam roll the wallabies up front. Switch on England, this WILL be tough.
Posted 12:20 22nd October 2012
rugby_rockstar says...
haha, inflamatory headline Planet rugby! quite funny though.
I think NZ drew with Aus simply because they were slightly rusty and it was a big game with a world record riding on it. If just one of those try scoring passes had gone to hand then they have won. The NZ workrate in support is still lightyears ahead of anybody. They don't laze about standing still waiting to catch the ball before moving forward. They play seriously good rugby and when it comes off they absolutley destroy teams. They are the only side to have fully embraced Rugby League attacks to break down rugby league defenses. Oz are a close second but the work rate of NZ puts everyone else to shame.
If NZ had won on Saturday then they were looking at stringing together a new world record of around 25 - 26 consecutive wins and I don't think that would ever have been broken. Deffinatley not by a northern hem side because there are too many countries with rivalries that'll motivate them to raise their game against a successful opponent. England wouldn't let France (or Wales) notch up a world record without a fight and EVERYONE would be out for England's blood.
On saturday Aus had a similar rivalry with NZ. They didn't want NZ to get their record and they bled to make sure they didn't get it.
Oh and that last couple of minutes with OZ getting blown off the pitch? Farcial. What on earth was the referee trying to prove? Exciting? No, more like embarrising. I mean if the ref wants to play for the all blacks then wear black just so we know where he stands.
I'd also like to echo some other posters in congratualting Robbie Deans and his team. There's been some serious bull written about Deans. If he rolled up at welford road Leicester would have have him in a shot. So would England, Wales, Ireland, France AND NZ! Just look back to 2007 and see who's name was on every new zealander's lips.
Posted 12:09 22nd October 2012
APV1 says...
@ hybrid187 - I think he was referring to a "Liverpool Kiss", a nickname for a headbutt. Aka a "Glasgow Kiss".
@ startledwombat & Trader2 - behave!
;-)
In fairness I thought it was a little dull. Yes, I agree, the last few minutes were tense because of the score, but there wasn't much to write home about.
I felt that the Ozzies had the upper-hand for most of the game, but fell at the last hurdle. They just couldn't convert pressure, posession and territory into points. I know NZ had a few chances (Nonu was looking sharp), but I felt the Ozzies were more fired-up.
The result was probably right too. Divisible by 3? Sometimes you take what you can get.
Posted 10:08 22nd October 2012
Piriaka says...
well done the Wallabies! ....and Robbie Deans! All Blacks played hopeless - like, they only played one decent game all year when they played the Pumas in Argentina. Won't surprised if the Poms etc put them away
Posted 09:17 22nd October 2012
powerplay says...
i though auz played awesome! you could tell by their anthem, they were here to play! is this the end of their mental weaknesses against the abs? and the continuing ones of carter when he is under pressure???
Posted 07:34 22nd October 2012
2eyedkiwi says...
@bokavenger. Is this joke the fact the when the top 2 rugby sides on the planet play rugby against each other, that the only Saffa on the field is the ref??
Or are you the joke?
I'm thinking probably both...
@trinats5 - not a wind up, but whats the serious take of Joe Aussie on this game? I'd have thought the Wallabies would feel a bit patronized by some of the excitement and praise on this thread from a draw?
Posted 05:21 22nd October 2012
bigb6969 says...
Good point "Lacroix" "without Joubert's craven home town spineless selective blindness" the Rougerie would have been sent off, and got a 6 months ban, instead of the huge hit of nothing he took.
Higginbotham should have got a red card, but the result of his actions Australia got 3 points !! That was the moment match that it turned on. When the head butt occurred (post the knee to face) Joubert was just bending over just centimetres from the action, and did nothing. You are right Lacroix he is spineless when it comes to punish dirty play against NZ.
True I am disappointed a lot we are not going to get the record for straight wins, but we can still go for the best unbeaten run. Australia were very lucky to get away with a draw. The humid conditions made the ball very slippery, both sides mishandling, sometimes the ball just popped straight of the hand. NZ got close to scoring a try several times, Australia never looked like scoring a try at all, not within a whiff. Another thing in total Australia only had 7 penalty shots, and a lot from some way out, NZ had 8 shots several with the 22. No way was Australia "lucky" not to win.
Australia dragged NZ down to their level. This Australian team have only scored 12 tries in 11 games, that is shocking. What has happened to Australian back play ?
Posted 04:24 22nd October 2012
kiwilad says...
Dangerous, great observation, as the 88 ABs also had a draw with the Wallabies
Posted 00:48 22nd October 2012
kiwilad says...
Nathan Sharp, legend.
Well done Wallabies
Posted 00:42 22nd October 2012
RealRugby says...
Nobody has mentioned that this also has ended the AB's succession of 105? 110? matches where they scored at least one try...
Posted 00:07 22nd October 2012
Webbie says...
Quade who?
Posted 23:04 21st October 2012