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All Black Conrad Smith scores a try - Source: Photosport -
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A perfect goalkicking display from Daniel Carter led the All
Blacks to a Bledisloe Cup rugby cleansweep against the Wallabies
with a 32-19 win in Tokyo on Saturday night.
The All Blacks first five-eighth kicked eight from eight for
22-point haul to guide home a 4-0 series sweep and their seventh
consecutive victory against their trans-Tasman foes.
In the teams' first meeting at Tokyo's National Stadium, just
several hundred short of a 48,000 sellout, the All Blacks defended
superbly as the Wallabies crossed their line just once through
Peter
Hynes when his opposite Sitiveni Sivivatu was sinbinned for a high
tackle.
The All Blacks scored tries to injury returnees Sivivatu and Conrad
Smith, both converted by Carter who added six penalties including
two in the final 10 minutes to make the test safe.
Carter's opposite Matt Giteau kicked five from six, for 14
points.
Captain Richie McCaw as usual was a dominant figure and was named
man of the match.
The reshuffled Wallabies showed plenty more spirit at the breakdown
than in their 6-33 hiding in Wellington and competed strongly up
front, but again rued a lack of finishing against a stout All
Blacks defence.
They scrummaged powerfully but the All Blacks' lineout shaded the
Wallabies' with several wins against the throw.
The All Blacks played up the significance of the venue in the test
leadup, the scene of Peter Snell's double gold medals at the 1964
Olympics.
Having lost their first choice centre pairing Stirling Mortlock
(calf) and Berrick Barnes (ankle), the Wallabies suffered a further
setback before kickoff when first choice hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau
was relegated to the bench with a sore achilles tendon.
Stephen Moore took his place as the run-on hooker, before
Polota-Nau was introduced in the 49th minute.
Referee Mark Lawrence stamped an early mark on a stop-start first
half, penalising the All Blacks five times in the first 10 minutes
as Giteau goaled two of them for an early 6-0 lead.
After a sluggish start, the All Blacks warmed to their task and
after a Carter penalty began to threaten the Wallabies' line.
They took the lead in the 21st minute via Sivivatu who dived over
out wide after McCaw handled twice including an in-pass to send Tom
Donnelly away.
But after a third Giteau penalty made it 10-9, Sivivatu turned
villain in the 34th minute when he dumped Adam Ashley-Cooper on his
shoulder and Lawrence reached for his pocket.
The Wallabies seized the advantage immediately when halfback Will
Genia flung a long pass to Sivivatu's vacant flank and Hynes
touched down just inside the corner in Jimmy Cowan's covering
tackle.
After several video replays and a long delay, Hynes was given the
benefit of the doubt as to whether he'd grounded the ball.
It broke the Wallabies' tryscoring drought against the All Blacks
which ticked over 270 minutes.
The All Blacks held off a late Wallabies charge just before
halftime and the impressive Cowan's good work held up Wycliff Palu
over the line after a big Australian scrum.
Sivivatu's return just after the break sparked the All Blacks and
they reclaimed the lead with a slick Smith try who brushed off
young fullback James O'Connor after a neat pop pass from Cory
Jane.
The All Blacks twice went close to scoring but Sivivatu and Kieran
Read -- who replaced Rodney So'oialo in the 53rd minute -- both
lost the ball. Read made an instant impact and his huge
tackle on George Smith snuffed out a dangerous raid.
Carter extended the lead to seven points with a quarter remaining
his third penalty from wide out as the All Blacks began to take
charge and never relinquished the converted try margin.
