Brisbane: Australia withstood a furious late charge to upset New Zealand 23-18 in a pulsating Bledisloe Cup match yesterday, piercing a fresh hole in the world champions’ aura of invincibility.
Reece Hodge’s monster, 53-metre penalty just before the final whistle sealed victory for the Wallabies, who celebrated just their second win in 19 games against their exalted neighbours.
After trailing by one point at half-time, Australia fought back to claim a physical victory over the All Blacks, scoring three tries to two in a high-quality match.
New Zealand, who had already retained the Bledisloe Cup after winning the opening two games during the Rugby Championship, dominated early and seemed certain to make it a clean sweep in Brisbane.
But the Wallabies, wearing a specially designed jersey to honour Australia’s indigenous players, dug deep in the second half to take the lead before holding off the visitors’ trademark late surge.
The Wallabies had come agonisingly close to ending their run of defeats against New Zealand when they conceded a late converted try to lose 35-29 in Dunedin in August.
But they stood firm to hand a second defeat of the season to the All Blacks, who will be going for their third straight World Cup title in two years’ time in Japan.