BY REQUEST - RUGBY STUFF

There I was dressed up in my All Black gear, feet up, in front of the telly, glass of red in hand, ten mins until the game started....screen goes blank. After much cursing, pulling out of plugs, rebooting system and more swearing, I realised I was going to have to wait another hour for the delayed coverage option. Fucks sake, pay all that money for satellite tv and it decides to go down at the most inappropriate times. I was NOT happy.

Anyway, I'm so happy I stayed up to watch my boys, they did NZ proud. The Tri-Nations and Bledisloe cups tucked away in the cabinet for another year. Woohoo!

A fellow, Mighty Blacks supporter missed the game and asked for a blow by blow account. I am usually biased in these things so I copy and pasted an article from my local rag. I recon the writer is probably a little biased too but I think he did a good job. So here ya go mate, courtesy of The New Zealand Herald.




The All Blacks held off a storming Wallabies finish to win a thrilling rugby test 28-24 here tonight and lock the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cups in their cabinet for another year.

Down 7-17 just after halftime the All Blacks rattled up three tries in 17 minutes to win their fourth consecutive Tri-Nations title and retain the Bledisloe Cup for a fifth year with a match to spare.

But the All Blacks weren't safe as a late try by Wallaby Ryan Cross with two minutes left narrowed the gap then the visitors had to defend desperately as the seconds ticked away.

The visitors scored four tries to three at Suncorp Stadium and rode home on a roaring "All Blacks" chant from a fair proportion of the crowd of 52,328. Captain Richie McCaw and his jubilant team embraced at the final whistle.

The All Blacks struck the killer blows in the 62nd and 67th minutes when replacement halfback Piri Weepu scored then first five-eighth Daniel Carter bumped off two defenders to give them an 11-point margin which proved enough.


For Deans, his debut Tri-Nations season ended with back-to-back defeats after a flying start to his new job.

The Wallabies led 10-7 at halftime after they dominated possession in a scrappy first 40 minutes where the whistle of referee Jonathan Kaplan was prominent.

The South African had little patience at the breakdown and warned both sides in the first half with yellow cards.

The All Blacks scored first in a rare attacking raid after a flurry of free kicks when fullback Mils Muliaina touched down after a quick tap from halfback Jimmy Cowan.

He found space inside the Wallabies 22m line then Jerome Kaino and Ma'a Nonu used the overlap to send Muliaina over out wide.

It looked as if the All Blacks would carry their lead into halftime as they defended stoutly, a Kaino turnover halting one 12-phase Wallabies movement near the line.

But on the stroke of halftime the hosts finally strung some passes together and fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper put them in front.

First five-eighth Matt Giteau, who had a poor first half with the boot, kicked wide for wing Peter Hynes who was hit in mid-air by opposite Sitiveni Sivivatu, but freed the pass to his fullback who darted past Muliaina and Conrad Smith to score.


The test opened up after the break and the Wallabies extended their lead to 10 points when they raced onto attack, Giteau handled twice and sent lock James Horwill crashing through Carter's tackle out wide.

But coach Graham Henry rolled on his substitutes with half an hour left and the All Blacks stormed home over the tiring Wallabies.

Prop Tony Woodcock raced 20m down the left touchline from a Smith linebreak for his third try in two matches against Australia, and Carter converted from the sideline to narrow the gap to three.

Weepu was only on the field seven minutes before he dotted down when Sivivatu caught the Wallabies' defence napping, then Carter nailed the coffin shut five minutes later when he bumped off Cross and Ashley Cooper to dive over under the posts.

- NZPA