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Congratulations, All Blacks!!!
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» Hedwig - Congratulations, All Blacks!!! Contratulations to the All Blacks on the winning the Bledisloe Cup match last night. It was a great game even if the Wallabies did lose.Bet there are a lot of sore heads in New Zealand this morning from celebrating and in Australia from drowning their sorrows. -- posted by Hedwig » PhilippaJane - Knew someone would mention this... Oh yes.. oh yes!!! NZ is grinning and celebrating still. Nice to see the Men in Black doing so well- and thanks for your magnimity to Joanna. But we'll let you hold onto the netball trophy...Pip -- posted by PhilippaJane » Hedwig - Sorry, But we retained the Bledisloe Cup Sorry, but we retained the Bledisloe Cup.Here is a report from an Australian newspaper: Wallabies win thriller AUSTRALIA retained Bledisloe Cup and kept alive their Tri-Nations hopes when captain John Eales kicked a penalty goal on fulltime to give the Wallabies a thrilling 24-23 victory at Wellington today. The All Blacks had the match, the Cup and the series all but sewn up until one of their number handled in the ruck within kicking range in injury time. With regular kicker Stirling Mortlock missing a long-range effort in the 76th minute, Eales stepped up for the make-or-break attempt. International rugby's only goal-kicking second-rower then calmly defied the swirling conditions, the baying 36,500 crowd and the gravity of the moment to slot the penalty and level the trans-Tasman series. Kaplan immediately blew full-time and was pelted with bottles by a hostile crowd as he left the field. But the All Blacks only had themselves to blame. Ahead 23-21 three minutes into injury time, they lost two successive line-outs on their own throw after which Australia promoted the ball to the quarter line where the infringement occurred. Up until that point, the home side appeared to have beaten the Australians into submission with a devastating display of running rugby and aggressive defence. The All Blacks deserved their 20-18 lead at half-time after another exhilarating first half in which their attacking triumvirate of wingers Tana Umaga and Jonah Lomah, and full-back Christian Cullen ran rampant. Umaga was particularly effective in breaking the line when he was introduced close to the ruck or out wide. However, it was flying full-back Cullen, who scored both his side's tries, the second of which came from a complex back-line move that might have had even the ACT Brumbies scratching their heads. From a win at the back of the line-out, half-back Justin Marshall distributed quickly to the centres where a decoy maul was established. With the Australian defence unsighted, the ball was fed to a charging Lomu who switched back to Umaga. He in turn broke the bewildered defensive line before handing off to Cullen who crossed for his second. Earlier, Australia had raced to a 7-0 lead in the second minute with a slick move of their own set up by centre Daniel Herbert. The Queensland line-breaker dummied cleverly to a looping Larkham before passing to Stirling Mortlock. Mortlock, charging through on an angled run, crossed next to the post to set up a simple conversion for himself. Twelve minutes later, Eales pinched an All Blacks line-out ball which sparked a sweeping five-phase play that resulted in Joe Roff crossing for Australia's second and a 12-0 lead. In a reduced mirror image of the first match at Stadium Australia, the All Blacks immediately hit back through Cullen off the back of one of many Umaga line breaks. The try inspired an All Black revival which culminated in a two-point half-time lead. A tight second half yielded just one penalty goal apiece until the fateful final moments, when a teetering Wallaby side, bereft of attacking options and stamina, was handed a lifeline which the consummate Australian skipper grabbed with both hands. Australia and New Zealand now share top spot on the Tri Nations table with 10 points each. Both play South Africa later this month.
-- posted by Hedwig » PhilippaJane - Go ABs Well I'm afraid I broke my tradition and watched the game. Of course that immediately jinxed the poor ABs.. sorry boys.But I think the two sides are obviously evenly matched. A pity that the homeside couldn't win at the new stadium, but then I guessed that happened at Stadium Australia too.... Ahhh well there will be a lot of sore heads in Wellington this morning... -- posted by PhilippaJane
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