Tri Nations: New Zealand complete tournament sweep
The New Zealand All Blacks were able to complete a Tri Nations sweep with a win over the Australian Wallabies over the weekend.
The All Blacks were able to sneak out a tight victory on the road in Sydney in the final game of the 2010 tournament. The Wallabies looked the better of the two sides in the first half, taking advantage of the home crowd to earn an eight point advantage at halftime. After the break the Aussies continued to pressure, however the All Blacks were able to storm back late, taking an exciting 23-22 victory.
Recap
New Zealand was able to get on the board first with a penalty from Piri Weepu in the second minute, to give the Kiwis an early 3-0 lead.
Centre Matt Giteau answered back for the Aussies with a penalty of his own in the sixth minute to knot the game back up.
Weepu then won the lead back for the visitors with a second penalty in the 10th minute to make the advantage 6-3.
The Aussies were the first to register a try in the 16th minute courtesy of winger James O’Connor. The conversion was missed and the home side took control with an 8-6 lead.
Giteau then added to the advantage with two penalties in the 31st and 40th minutes respectively. The two scores allowed the Wallabies to take a 14-6 lead into halftime.
After the break the Aussies still looked like the stronger of the two sides with centre Adam Ashley-Cooper marching his way over the line in the 46th minute to push the lead out to 19-6.
Weepu and Kurtley Beale then exchanged penalties to transform the score to 22-9.
The Kiwis then began to take over as captain Richie McCaw manoeuvred his way over the line in the 67th minute, with Weepu following up with the conversion to make it 22-16.
The All Blacks kept the pressure on, scoring a try in the 73rd minute courtesy of Kieran Read. Weepu then hit his second conversion to give the New Zealanders the lead at 23-22, capping off an impressive Tri Nations tournament.
Analysis
Australia looked to be the better side through the majority of the match. However, lapses late in the second half stopped what could have been a historic win.
The All Blacks stuck with the Test until the final moments and were able to provide another exciting Australia-New Zealand contest. New Zealand earned a clean sweep of the competition with the win and cemented their spot as the number one ranked team in the world.
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