All Blacks beat young Wallabies 38-7 to retain Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — New Zealand locked away the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship trophy for another year, extending a strong start to the World Cup season with a 38-7 win over Australia on Saturday.

The All Blacks finished with a perfect 3-0 record in the shortened Championship and, by winning the first leg of the two-leg Bledisloe series, extended their hold on the trans-Tasman trophy to 21 years.

They were expected to win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. After a 41-12 win over Argentina and 35-20 win over world champion South Africa, the All Blacks came into the match massive favorites against the winless Wallabies.

But there still was a frisson of doubt. Coach Eddie Jones selected and talked up an exceptionally young Wallabies team and the prospect of a big upset briefly raised its head when they seized an early lead.

By halftime, New Zealand was ahead 19-7 with tries to Shannon Frizell, Codie Taylor and Will Jordan and the specter of unexpected defeat had effectively been laid.

Though they were under pressure early in the second half, New Zealand scored three tries while Australia was reduced to 14 men by a yellow card, and that made a close match one-sided. A yellow card in the first half also was expensive for Australia.

The Wallabies also lost inspirational captain Allan Alaalatoa to injury and that was crushing.

“This was a big game in our minds," All Blacks coach Ian Foster said. "To come here, they were going to be fired up and they showed that in the first 20 minutes and put us under the pump. We showed great composure to come through the other side.

“It was a different win than the last couple but it was very physical and a lot of patience.”

New Zealand was strong at set-pieces but the Wallabies will take enormous encouragement from their start and competitive performance at breakdowns. The All Blacks made rapid and decisive beginnings against Argentina and South Africa and while they scored first on Saturday after only three minutes, Australia responded quickly and denied them similar early dominance.

New Zealand's discipline was nowhere near as tight as it was in the other Championship matches and it was heavily penalized at breakdowns by veteran English referee Wayne Barnes, a further measure of Australia's competitiveness in that area.

The first half was much closer than the scoreline indicated. When the Australian forwards had quick phase ball and could run, they drove back the All Blacks and flyhalf Carter Gordon in his debut test managed the attack well. The All Blacks fell back often on the comfort of their set-piece.

Back-rower Shannon Frizell scored the All Blacks' opening try from a lineout at which Wallabies scrumhalf Tate McDermott was collared and driven back over his own line.

Australia quickly replied with a try to Rob Valetini, who crashed into the defense near the posts. The play continued and Marika Koroibete went close in the corner before replays showed Valetini scored for a 7-5 lead. Koroibete was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock on midway through the half.

Hooker Codie Taylor scored from a lineout drive to win back the lead for New Zealand in the 34th minute. Fast hands and feet made a try for winger Will Jordan just before the break.

Jones unleahed his bench early and ran into trouble when prop Taniela Tupou was shown a yellow card in the 58th for head contact. New Zealand had been stuck on defense for most of the second half until that point and was able at last to break out.

Almost immediately, it was able to score again through winger Caleb Clark, who had just taken the field as a replacement. After a lineout and incursion into the Wallabies' 22, Jordan stood in a tackle and offloaded to wing Mark Telea to score.

Again, only a minute later, center Rieko Ioane finished the best try-scoring movement of the match. Flyhalf Richie Mo'unga started things inside their 22. Lock Scott Barrett pushed off a defender and passed to set in motion a movement which continued with slick inter-passing down the left touch. Inside the Australia 22, the All Blacks went across the field and Telea baffled his marker and sent over Ioane.

The teams meet again in Dunedin, New Zealand, next weekend.

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