New Zealand 39 – 10 Australia

The scorers, quotes, match stats and player ratings for the second Bledisloe Cup \ Tri Nations clash between the Trans-Tasman rivals.

Tri Nations Table

[TABLE=88]

The Scorers

New Zealand [39]
Tries: Tony Woodcock (2), Ma’a Nonu (2)
Conversions: Dan Carter (2)
Penalties: Dan Carter (5)

Australia [10]
Try: Adam Ashley-Cooper
Conversion: Matt Giteau
Penalty: Matt Giteau

The Talk

Richie McCaw:

“The game wasn’t as quick as it might have been. It was a wee bit stop-start and when you’re going forward it makes it easier. But with 10 minutes to go I didn’t have a lot of gas left.

“Everyone in the 15 out there and the guys that came on all did their part and made it pretty easy for me. When you come back from not having played for a while it would be easy to try and do everything. I just wanted to make sure I did my job first and foremost.

“It wasn’t a nice feeling last week when we knew we had been out-muscled and had a performance we weren’t very happy with at all.

“I was hoping we’d do what we needed to do and the pleasing thing was once we got ahead we didn’t let them back into the game. The Wallabies are renowned for that. They hang in there and even though you are on top the score can be close.

“That’s the great thing – we kept the hammer on them.”

Graham Henry:

“It’s pleasing for New Zealand rugby.

“We have all been under pressure. Jock (Hobbs) and the board, the administration, the team … the New Zealand rugby public just wanted a performance and they got a performance tonight that was right out of the top drawer.

“It will give us some foundation, some confidence and a wee bit of relief from the pressure. So we can build from there hopefully. But the game in Cape Town will be massive and the game in Brisbane will be massive.

“Both teams playing in those two encounters will be absolutely on the edge of the edge so it’s going to be pretty special.

“I’m very proud of the team. I though they played exceptionally well. It keeps us alive in the Tri-Nations and the Bledisloe Cup.

“We don’t underestimate the magnitude of that task – we have two away games now but it was a fine performance and I’m very proud of the guys who did the job.

“I think tactically they played very well. We learnt a lot from last week  – the players learnt a lot, the coaches learnt a lot. We changed the game plan around and the guys executed that exceptionally well.”

The Stats

Possession: NZ 52, AUS 48
Territory: NZ 59 AUS 41
Lineouts won: NZ 9, AUS 16
Lineouts lost: NZ 1 AUS 8
Top jumpers:  Vickerman 5, Sharpe 4, Williams 4, Thorn 2
Scrums won: NZ 9, AUS 3
Scrums lost: NZ 0, AUS 0
Scrums reset: NZ 5, AUS 0
Rucks: NZ 79, AUS 92
Mauls: NZ 1, AUS 1
Hit-ups: NZ 63, AUS 73
Linebreaks: NZ 6, AUS 6
Tackles made: NZ 139, AUS 135
Tackles missed: NZ 19, AUS 22
Top tacklers: McCaw 15, So’oialo 13, Palu 13, Giteau 13
Turnovers: NZ 14, AUS 27
Errors: NZ 14, AUS 14
Penalties: NZ 5, AUS 6
Free kicks: NZ 9, AUS 9

The Player Ratings

All Blacks
http://www.thesilverfern.com/news/ab_player_ratings_v_oz_test_2.htm
http://www.rugby365.com/tournaments/trinat/news/1059440.htm

Wallabies
http://www.rugby365.com/tournaments/trinat/news/1059423.htm