New Zealand retain Bledisloe Cup with 31-28 thrilling win over Australia in Sydney

Australia 28-31 New Zealand, Sydney

New Zealand successfully managed to hold on a late surge from Australia as they sealed a thrilling 31-28 victory in Sydney to retain the Bledisloe Cup.

Coming into the game following a record 27-67 loss to Argentina, the Wallabies were trailing by 7-28 for most part of the opening half but tries from Matthew Faessler, Hunter Paisami and Tom Wright helped the home side almost pull off a stunning victory before the All Blacks held their nerve to seal a nervy win.

New Zealand had a late change to the game with Beauden Barrett dropping out due to illness and Will Jordan moved to fullback. Sevu Reece while Harry Plummer is set to make his debut from the bench. Meanwhile, James Slipper made history as he became the most capped Wallaby player of all time.

The All Blacks took just two minutes to open their account as Jordan went pass Liam Wright and Nic White to go over the line and Damian McKenzie kicked the conversion to make it 0-7. The visitors doubled their tally shortly as Cortez Ratima created the break for Reiko Ioane to touchdown and McKenzie once again improved it.

The scoreline soon became 0-21 by the 16th minute with Caleb Clarke powering his way over and once again McKenzie was spot on with the conversion before the Wallabies opened their account as Rob Valentini and White combined to send Fraser McReight over and Noah Lolesio kicked a simple conversion to make it 7-21.

The bonus point for Scott Robertson's side came in the 25th minute with this time Reece picking the ball and offloading for Ardie Savea to dot down and in the process he also became the most tries scored for the All Blacks by a forward going past Richie McCaw.

As the half time was approaching, Australia cut down the deficit to 14 points with this time Matthew Faessler scoring at the back of a rolling maul and Lolesio kicked a tricky conversion. New Zealand thought they had a late score with Jordie Barrett diving over just before the break but was turned down by the TMO for a knock on by Reece in the build on as the teams completed the opening half with a 14-28 scoreline.

McKenzie with a simple penalty in front of the post extended New Zealand's lead to 17 points which proved enough despite Hunter Paisami and Tom Wright scoring in the final quarter for the Wallabies, who had to settle with a bonus point.

Team line up:

Australia XV: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Angus Bell.

Reserves: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Tom Lynagh, 23 Dylan Pietsch.

New Zealand XV: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Wallace Sititi, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Scott Barrett (c), 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot.

Reserves: 16 Asafo Aumua, Tamaiti Williams, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Sam Darry, 20 Luke Jacobson, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Sevu Reece.