Caleb Clarke the star as All Blacks bounce back with big win over Wallabies in Auckland
All Blacks 27
Wallabies 7
The All Blacks have taken a big step towards retaining the Bledisloe Cup with a victory over the Wallabies at their fortress Eden Park during which wing Caleb Clarke announced himself on the world stage.
The 27-7 victory will be seen as a redemption from last week’s mainly tepid performance in a 16-16 draw in Wellington but the Wallabies were just as obdurate and hard to shift here a week later until a blockbusting run from Clarke, who beat five defenders and set up Ardie Savea’s try, knocked the stuffing out of them.
It was the sort of run reminiscent of Jonah Lomu in his prime and the anticipation among the crowd was palpable every time the 21-year-old received the ball.
The charge which set up Savea’s try will feature in highlight reels for a long time and his proud father Eroni, a former Blues and All Blacks midfielder, could only smile and shrug his shoulders for the cameras while he sat and watched in the crowd of more than 45,000.
The Wallabies, desperate to respond, went extremely close via left wing Marika Koroibete, who was held up in the corner, and hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa, whose try was ruled out for a double movement.
By then the damage was done. Sam Cane’s converted try after an excellent run from Patrick Tuipulotu meant there was no way back for Dave Rennie’s men, who will have to win the next two Bledisloe Cup tests in Brisbane and Sydney starting on October 31 to win a trophy they haven’t held in almost 20 years.
Clarke, in his first test start after impressing off the bench last weekend, received a standing ovation when he limped from the field in the 68th minute, star in the ascendent and presumably a fixture in the No 11 jersey for the foreseeable future.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster had got the response he had wanted in terms of physicality, and apart from a couple of wobbles his team’s set piece was superior.
But, while that scrum advantage and a run from Jack Goodhue, who went straight through James O’Connor, a carry which led to their first try from short range via Aaron Smith, put them on the front foot, the Wallabies were again conceding nothing.
The charge which set up Savea’s try will feature in highlight reels for a long time and his proud father Eroni, a former Blues and All Blacks midfielder, could only smile and shrug his shoulders for the cameras while he sat and watched in the crowd of more than 45,000.
The Wallabies, desperate to respond, went extremely close via left wing Marika Koroibete, who was held up in the corner, and hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa, whose try was ruled out for a double movement.
By then the damage was done. Sam Cane’s converted try after an excellent run from Patrick Tuipulotu meant there was no way back for Dave Rennie’s men, who will have to win the next two Bledisloe Cup tests in Brisbane and Sydney starting on October 31 to win a trophy they haven’t held in almost 20 years.
Clarke, in his first test start after impressing off the bench last weekend, received a standing ovation when he limped from the field in the 68th minute, star in the ascendent and presumably a fixture in the No 11 jersey for the foreseeable future.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster had got the response he had wanted in terms of physicality, and apart from a couple of wobbles his team’s set piece was superior.
But, while that scrum advantage and a run from Jack Goodhue, who went straight through James O’Connor, a carry which led to their first try from short range via Aaron Smith, put them on the front foot, the Wallabies were again conceding nothing.
They were missing the injured Sam Whitelock and Rieko Ioane, while Hodgman and midfielder Peter Umaga-Jensen celebrated debuts. Blindside flanker Shannon Frizell played perhaps his best test and there were genuinely good impacts off the reserves bench from the returning Scott Barrett, halfback TJ Perenara, loose forward Hoskins Sotutu and Clarke’s replacement Damian McKenzie.
None is likely to be as pleased as young Caleb Clarke, however; a No11 on the move in a big way. His interventions were a big reason why the All Blacks retained their winning record at Eden Park which dates back to 1994, and why the Wallabies couldn’t beat a hoodoo which dates back to 1986.
“Just too excited I think,” said hooker Dane Coles to referee Angus Gardner after scrapping with Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou when the match was barely three minutes old.
As Foster reflects on his first win as head coach and Clarke on his magical hour and eight minutes in front of his friends and family, it’s a sentiment that will be shared by many All Blacks supporters who just witnessed a new global star.
All Blacks 27 (Aaron Smith, Jordie Barrett, Ardie Savea, Sam Cane tries; Richie Mo’unga pen, 2 cons)
Wallabies 7 (Marika Koroibete try; James O’Connor con)
Halftime: 10-7
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments