Kiwis beat Australia 47-29 in Rugby Championship

SYDNEY (AP) New Zealand opened the Rugby Championship with a commanding 47-29 victory over Australia on Saturday, extending its dominance over its trans-Tasman rival and spoiling Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie's first game in charge.

Despite missing star flyhalf Dan Carter through injury, the All Blacks always looked in control against a mistake-prone Australia. Ben Smith scored a hat trick of tries, and Aaron Cruden, Richie McCaw and Conrad Smith also crossed in a bonus-point win for the world champions at Sydney's Olympic stadium.

Will Genia and James O'Connor scored tries for the hosts.

The All Blacks will retain the Bledisloe Cup a trophy contested annually between the Australasian rivals for the 11th straight year with a victory next week in Wellington.

"I am obviously very happy with the performance," All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said. "It's not every day that you can come here and get 40 odd points. It's important to be a winning team, but you've got to keep humble and your feet on the floor because you've got to win again next week.

"The Bledisloe Cup, you have to win twice, so we haven't done anything yet. We've only done a small part of the job, but until we win two, we don't win it."

On this performance, McKenzie will need a vast improvement from his players if they are to have any chance of competing in the four-team Rugby Championship, which also features South Africa and Argentina.

"Every time you lose a game it's disappointing," McKenzie said. "We were level pegging there for some time in the game, but you have to respect possession.

"We didn't control the ball and they were able to play and do some of the things they're good at, and you pay a price for that."

Australia captain James Horwill said his team paid a heavy price for its mistakes.

"They're very good. They show it by the way they play, the way they capitalize on turnovers, and they understand the way they want to play because they have done it for a long time together," he said. "They are No. 1 in the world for a reason."

As was the case in the lost series to the British and Irish Lions in June and July, the Wallabies made its cause difficult with numerous individual errors, giving the visitors frequent scoring opportunities.

Stephen Moore's knock-on in the opening minutes gave the All Blacks an early opportunity to pressure the Wallabies goal-line defense. It was a chance they eagerly grasped, with Aaron Cruden getting on the outside of James O'Connor and flicking a one-handed pass for Ben Smith to cross unchallenged for a converted try after four minutes.

The Wallabies were given a penalty chance when Kieran Read barged into Rob Simmons off a high midfield kick. Center Christian Lealiifano made no mistake to narrow the deficit to 7-3.

Australia closed to within a point on 12 minutes through Lealiifano after referee Craig Joubert penalized New Zealand captain Richie McCaw for playing the ball while off his feet at the ruck.

Both teams traded penalties before a poor attempted clearance by Lealiifano was charged down by Cruden, with the flyhalf able to score with ease for a 17-12 lead.

The home team's task was made harder when Jesse Mogg's clearance kick failed to find touch in the 33rd minute. After several phases close to the Wallabies line, Aaron Smith fired a wide pass that eventually allowed the returning McCaw to dive over in the corner to make it 22-12.

"For Richie to come back after having the break and everyone doubted him. To get through the 70 minutes like he did just shows the character of the bloke once again, so hopefully there won't be any more doubters," Hansen said.

The Wallabies received a lifeline after the All Blacks fumbled the ball on its line-out. It was swooped on by Michael Hooper, who passed the ball for Will Genia to sprint 60 yards and beat Cruden, Ben Smith and Israel Dagg's attempted tackles to score under the posts. Lealiifano added the extras to narrow the score to 22-19.

In keeping with the see-saw nature of the first half, the Wallabies were caught offside in the final minute of the half, giving Cruden a simple penalty shot for the visitors to lead 25-19 at halftime.

The Wallabies started the second half brightly and Lealiifano again drew the Wallabies within three points with another penalty.

In the 51st minute, the Wallabies conspired to allow the All Blacks score its fourth try, and a bonus point, when Mogg dropped off Conrad Smith, allowing the center to dash over under the posts for a 32-22 lead.

The hosts' misery was compounded when the All Blacks won possession on Australia's scrum feed in the 57th minute and quickly played the ball wide. Ben Smith found space to dive over in the corner to end the match as a contest.

Quade Cooper was brought on from the bench in the 61st minute, his first international appearance since September 2012. The Queensland Reds playmaker was greeted by a chorus of boos from the large All Black supporter contingent among the crowd of 68,765 people.

Cruden continued to impress, slotting a penalty in the 66th to bring up 40 points for the All Blacks.

"People have questioned Aaron Cruden at times at this level, and I think he showed tonight that he's a true international player of world-class ability and he led the team very well," Hansen said.

Ben Smith scored his deserved hat trick in the 71st, latching on to a spilt ball at a ruck to dash to the line.

Australia scored a late consolation try when O'Connor found space out wide in New Zealand's defensive line.

___

Scores:

New Zealand 47 (Ben Smith 3, Aaron Cruden, Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith tries; Cruden 3 conversions, 3 penalties, Beauden Barrett conversion) def. Australia 29 (Will Genia, James O'Connor tries; Christian Lealiifano 2 conversion, 5 penalties). Halftime: 25-19.

Rugby: All Blacks thump France

It was the French coach who called for the clinical rugby this week, but the All Blacks who delivered it in making their first decisive move of Steve Hansen's ambitious plan to regenerate his world champions.

After a rusty and stop-start effort in Auckland last week, this was more like it from the new-generation All Blacks, shutting out France 30-0.

Even though it had been French coach Philippe Saint-Andre who had challenged his team to deliver a more clinical performance in the second hitout of this three-test series, it was the New Zealanders who made the serious step up in execution and class.

The All Blacks won the kicking battle by a handsome margin with a display that was on the mark right from the first swing of their boot, and from there they backed it up with a chase game to match, and a vastly improved effort at the set piece.

Led brilliantly by Kieran Read in his 50th test, the home players won all the big battles and made all the big statements on a heartening night for the future of the world's No 1 team.

The French were never in this contest, pinned in the wrong parts of the field for long periods and never able to find the holes in the All Black defence that they'd managed a week earlier. It was the first time in their history they have failed to score against the All Blacks.

It was a top-drawer effort from the world champs on a cool night in front of a sellout crowd of nearly 22,000. They ran in three scintillating tries and outplayed the visitors from go to whoa.

Several players made serious statements too. Up front Read was back to his blockbusting best, one 50m run in the first half a classic example of that. Sam Whitelock was special in a late callup from the injury ward, dominant in the lineout and matching the off-the-charts workrate of Brodie Retallick from the week earlier.

The scrum was strong, lineout outstanding and Sam Cane and Liam Messam also had very good tests in a much improved breakdown effort. Ma'a Nonu was the backline star, but he headed a stellar cast with Ben Smith, Conrad Smith, Israel Dagg and a much sharper Aaron Cruden all confirming their class. Julian Savea, too, caused all sorts of problems with his hard running.

It had been a swift start from the All Blacks on the back of - would you believe? - two quality kicks from Nonu for an early 7-0 lead. The first forced the French to throw to the lineout 10 metres from their line and the second, after a nice piece of mid-air thievery from Sam Whitelock, put Savea in for his 13th try in just his 11th test.

It was clear from the outset that the world champions had a game-plan based around playing in the right parts of a fairly sodden field, and their kicking game (as well as chasing one) was right on the money.

That the home team took just a 10-0 led into the sheds after 40 pretty dominant minutes was slightly disappointing. With the French lineout in disarray, the visitors spent much of the half buried deep in their own territory and would have been ecstatic to leak just a further three points via Cruden's boot.

Nonu, who was back to his line-breaking best, made a clean break just shy of the half-hour mark that probably should have yielded a try. But Dagg was held up and the French escaped without damage.

It was that sort of a half for the All Blacks. They were switched on and dominant, but just could not rattle up the points to go with their ascendancy. No doubt Hansen's message at the break was a pretty simple one: "Stick with it, fellas, the rewards will come."

Sure enough, that 10-point lead grew to 17 after 10 minutes with a stunning seven-pointer to wing Ben Smith - just his third try in his 14th test.

Ironically, it came after a period of sustained French pressure as they rumbled into the All Blacks' red zone. But the home defence was up to the challenge, tackle after tackle driving back the multi-phase French attack, until eventually Frederic Michalak resorted to a desperation dropped goal attempt that was charged down by Cane.

From there the men in black pounced. Possession was snaffled 60m out, young hooker Dane Coles made a very good decision to find Savea on the inpass and he put Ben Smith in for an unchallenged run to the posts.

There was time yet for one more flourish - with a stunning length-of-the field breakout that started with Cruden's wide pass to Rene Ranger and ended with substitute Beauden Barrett dashing clear to dot down between the posts.

Brilliant try to cap a brilliant night for the All Blacks.

All Blacks 30 (Julian Savea, Ben Smith, Beauden Barrett tries; Aaron Cruden 3 cons, 3 pen) France 0. HT: 10-0.

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Agonising tension until final whistle

By Wynne Gray 

5:30 AM Tuesday Oct 23, 2012

Usually Mt Eden looks to ease quietly towards thoughts of sleep on a Sunday night and the start to the working week.

But a year ago, the suburb was in a frenzy. All points led to Eden Park as the All Blacks waited their chance to emulate their predecessors from 1987.

It was the nation's greatest rugby inquiry since the All Blacks were pipped by illness and a dropped goal in extra time in South Africa in 1995.

Most of the worry from two months before had dissipated. In that time the All Blacks were beaten by the Springboks and Wallabies in their final two tests leading into the tournament. They were chilling blows but gave the coaches all the ingredients they needed to keep the side on task.

The All Blacks breezed through pool play, tightened at quarter-final time against Argentina and slammed their foot down hard on the Wallabies in the semifinal.

One more win, one victory stood between the class of 2011 emulating the 1987 Hall of Famers. Coach Graham Henry was interviewed before the decider against France and told the audience that success would mean "peace, internal peace".

His insides and those in the huge crowd who packed into the stadium did not stop churning until referee Craig Joubert blew a halt, with the All Blacks a golden point ahead at 8-7.

For 33 minutes, the All Blacks fought to hold that precarious lead, avoiding Joubert's wrath for most of that time though they had to dodge one bullet when Francois Trinh-Duc pushed a long-range penalty wide.

Captain Richie McCaw and centre Conrad Smith heard the final hooter and implored replacement halfback Andy Ellis to kick the ball out.

Before he could, Joubert blew a penalty and after a double check the game was done; Ellis booted the ball deep into the throng in the grandstand - the pain of five previous World Cup campaigns dissolved.

The ache of those tournaments ebbed away while the relief flowed through the All Blacks and their coaching staff. It had been way too close. The artery-tightening pressure of the Webb Ellis Cup duel, the expectation of the nation, the wounds of history and French bravery had weighed down the All Blacks.

They had beaten France 37-17 in pool play before France then lost to Tonga. But in the weird mix of qualifying and French rugby, that did not matter as they brought a resolve which had been missing from their previous work.

Four of the All Blacks' starting side - Israel Dagg, Aaron Cruden, Sam Whitelock and Owen Franks - were not alive when New Zealand won the inaugural tournament in 1987. Even for those who watched that match, that triumph seemed to be in some distant age.

There was emotion and torment welling long before kickoff. A pack of former greats breathed their thoughts to global television audiences. Men like Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh, Francois Pienaar, George Gregan, Phil Kearns, John Eales, Rod Kafer, Greg Martin and Agustin Pichot delivered their last theories.

McCaw came on to the track 40 minutes before kickoff, testing his foot injury which had reduced his training impact and been a well-hidden secret.

Brad Thorn looked even more stern before his final test, perhaps remembering his time at the 2003 event, as injured teammates Daniel Carter, Mils Muliaina and Colin Slade sat uncertainly in their seats.

Referee Joubert brushed away some moisture round his eyes as the national anthems boomed out before the French advanced in arrowhead formation towards the All Black haka.

Bluff, double-bluff or a real sign of intent? We soon found out.

France arrived 90 minutes before the start, bristling at being seen as making up the numbers for this seventh global title decider. On the evidence of their scratchy pool play then fortune to beat Wales who had captain Sam Warburton sent off, most pundits dismissed France as a real threat. They had played particularly well to beat England but little more. There was dissension in the ranks about coach Marc Lievremont, but that sort of chatter seems to accompany every French side.

Apart from the debut 1987 festival, the history of World Cup finals tells us there is little in these contests.

The All Blacks destroyed France 29-9 that day, they beat them by the same margin in pool play and many thought a similar margin was possible in the 2011 decider.

The tournament had shown a divide in the teams' talent and application but finals tended to narrow some of those differences.

Early nerves were on show with Morgan Parra kicking out on the full and the All Blacks losing their first lineout. The strain was everywhere, there was an edge to the crowd's encouragement and both sets of coaches were agitated.

That tension stayed until Joubert's final blast on his whistle and McCaw could sink to his knees in relief as his busted foot couldn't cope with much more. "We've won. I should be happy. All I feel is relief," he says in his book. "It's finished. I can stop. I don't have to do this anymore."

Now the All Blacks have to turn their attention to winning a World Cup offshore, with that target already taking a little shape as coach Steve Hansen prepares to take his unbeaten squad to the UK and Europe.