BLEDISLOE CUP: New Zealand32 Australia19
NEW ZEALAND assistant coach Steve Hansen had no argument with the one-match bans handed out to prop Tony Woodcock and wing Sitiveni Sivivatu following Saturday’s victory in Tokyo.
Hansen accompanied the pair to the judicial hearing where officer Peter Hobbs, of Wellington, found Woodcock guilty of striking George Smith with his elbow in the final minute of the contest and Sivivatu guilty of a dangerous mid-air tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper, which also earned the winger a 10-minute spell in the sinbin at the National Stadium.
The suspensions mean at least two changes will be made to the All Blacks starting line-up to take on Wales in the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Hansen said the players had received a fair hearing.
“We just have to accept the two penalties we got and move on,” he said. “Obviously we’ve got two guys we can’t select, so from that point of view it does (complicate things).
“But we’ve got a group of 33 so someone’s demise is someone else’s good fortune.”
A calf injury to Daniel Carter, who looked in some discomfort yesterday, a day after the match, is providing a further selection headache for the All Blacks coaches, who will be keen to have their star pivot play against a Wales side feeling confident about their chances of ending more than 56 years of hurt against the New Zealanders.
Saturday’s result meant New Zealand completed a 4-0 Bledisloe Cup sweep over Australia, their first clean sweep since 1972.
Scoring two tries to one, New Zealand benefited from a 22-point haul from Carter, who converted both tries and landed six penalty goals and achieved 200 points in Tests against Australia in the process.
It was a more committed Australian side who showed they had regained their physicality to put the experience of Wellington and their 33-6 loss to the All Blacks in their last encounter behind them.
But they were still unable to find the finesse to put the All Blacks under sufficient pressure.
Number eight Wycliff Paul twice went close to scoring, being held up on the line the first time, and losing the ball in the tackle the second.
Handling mistakes proved costly on several occasions for the Wallabies. Scrumhalf Will Genia, inside centre Adam Ashley-Cooper and wing Digby Ioane were each slippery on attack but were unable to head off the All Blacks cover defence.
New Zealand’s performance was not as dominant as in Wellington, but with all the emphasis on coaching changes the lineout proved more competitive from the outset.
Australia did make the most of the sinbinning of Sivivatu, and wing Peter Hynes was awarded a controversial try soon after when referee Mark Lawrence became frustrated at the delay in the decision-making of a Japanese television match official.
Earlier, clever All Blacks handling overcame determined Australian defence to produce the first try after Matt Giteau had landed two penalty goals to one by Carter.
Carter took a heavy hit but still managed to recycle the ball and scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan threw a long pass to flanker Richie McCaw who offloaded to lock Tom Donnelly.
He linked with fullback Mils Muliaina, he found McCaw in support and his pass outside found Sivivatu in the clear.
Carter landed the conversion.
Giteau and Carter exchanged penalties on the half-hour.
Australia struck back after Sivivatu’s sinbinning and moved the ball to Hynes, with Genia firing a long pass from a maul.
Hynes was in the clear but three All Blacks cover defenders looked to get him as he dived at the line. Referee Mark Lawrence called for the television match official to see if Hynes grounded the ball short of the line.
Initial replays were inconclusive, but Lawrence lost patience with the amount of time taken and ruled the try had been scored. Giteau landed a fine conversion to give Australia a 16-13 lead.
Moments later, after some poor All Blacks decision-making, Palu ran off the back of a scrum toward the line but was unable to ground the ball as Cowan got under him and the All Blacks were able to survive until the half-time whistle.
Sivivatu marked his return with a 60-metre kick which hit the corner post, and when Australia cleared downfield Muliaina ran the ball upfield to link with Carter.
From the maul the ball was moved to wing Cory Jane standing at first receiver. He threaded through the defence and passed to centre Conrad Smith who stepped through the Australians and went over for a 45th-minute try.
International Match Teams
NEW ZEALAND:Muliaina; Jane, C Smith, Nonu, Sivivatu; Carter, Cowan; Woodcock, Hore, Tialata, Thorn, Donnelly, Thomson, McCaw, So'oialo. Replacements: Afoa for Tialata (46 mins), Read for So'oialo (54 mins). Not used:Flynn, Eaton, Leonard, Donald, Ellison.
Sin Bin:Sivivatu (32 mins).
AUSTRALIA:O'Connor; Hynes, Cross, Ashley-Cooper, Ioane; Giteau, Genia; Robinson, Moore, Alexander, Horwill, Chisholm, Elsom, Pocock, Palu. Replacements: Polota-Nau for Moore (49 mins), Mumm for Chisholm (50 mins), Smith for Palu (54 mins). Not used:Dunning, Burgess, Mitchell, Cooper.
