NEW ZEALAND WON the Bledisloe Cup for the 12th year running with a dominant 51-20 victory against Australia at Eden Park this morning.
The world champions put last weekend’s poor performance in Sydney well and truly behind them as they ran riot against their rivals, scoring six tries to record their highest score against Australia.
The Wallabies have not won at Eden Park since 1986 and, from the moment lock Rob Simmons was sent to the sinbin for dangerous play in the 23rd minute, they never looked like doing so.
In that 10-minute spell the All Blacks clocked up 17 points and the visitors, who earned a 12-12 draw on home soil last weekend, never recovered.
In stark contrast, when home skipper Richie McCaw was yellow carded in the 13th minute the All Blacks actually took the lead during his time off the field and the late sin-binning of Ben Franks had no bearing on the result at all. McCaw redeemed himself with two second-half tries, with Julian Savea, Steve Luatua and Kieran Read also touching down, with a penalty try also thrown into the mix.
The outplayed away side, who had just two penalties to show for their efforts at half-time, scored after the interval through Isral Folau and Michael Hooper. New Zealand top the group ahead of South Africa’s match against Argentina, who the defending champions face next Saturday.
