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All Blacks Player Ratings v Australia
By Sam Warlow
The All Blacks opened their Bledisloe series and Rugby Championship campaign with a 38-13 victory of Australia at in Sydney. Here’s how they fared individually.
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1. Joe Moody – 8
Wreaked havoc at scrum time, outmuscled his opposite Sekope Kepu. Made his tackles and was good in run support.
2. Codie Taylor – 6.5
Had a few lineouts picked off including an effort on the Wallabies five-metre line. Made all eight of his tackle attempts. Conceded a penalty.
3. Owen Franks – 8
Like Moody, dominant at the scrum. Finished with seven tackles.
4. Sam Whitelock – 8
Outshone by locking partner Brodie Retallick, but still disruptive in the lineout and staunch defensively in his 100th Test.
5. Brodie Retallick – 10
Brodie Retallick was the man of the match. The industrious lock was everywhere. Had his way with the Australian lineout, won a handful of turnovers and scored a brilliant try to boot after selling a big dummy. Excellent comeback performance after an 11 month international absence.
6. Liam Squire – 6.5
Penalised five metres from the All Blacks line, cost three points. Otherwise handy in defence.
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7. Sam Cane – 7
Forced a Lukhan Tui knock-on after delivering a big hit early. Won a pair of turnovers. Quiet with ball in hand.
8. Kieran Read – 8
Penalty surrendered three early points, picked up a try assist to Aaron Smith after great support running. Put in a few big hits and didn’t miss a tackle.
9. Aaron Smith – 8.5
Scored a trademark try in support. Defensively sound, continues to set the standard in terms of distribution.
10. Beauden Barrett – 8
The positives outweighed the negatives for Barrett. Broke the line, scored a try and set up another with a well-placed kick for Waisake Naholo. Errant passes and points left on the board mark the five-eighth down.
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11. Rieko Ioane – 7.5
Unable to get involved effectively in early stages. Great once he finally found space with big line break to set up Goodhue try. Off injured after 45 minutes.
12. Ryan Crotty – NR
Mishandled the ball in attacking territory, was injured early and replaced by Anton Lienert-Brown.
13. Jack Goodhue – 9
Excellent defensively. Even better on attack. Led the team in run metres with 142 and tackles with 11. Consistently broke the line. Made an excellent tap-on pass to Naholo in build-up to Aaron Smith try, support running rewarded with a try. Big tackles near his own goal line and on Israel Folau.
14. Waisake Naholo – 9.5
Impressive control to stay in play and offload to Kieran Read leading up to Aaron Smith try. Big steal on opposite Marika Koroibete. Bagged a pair of tries including a 40-metre solo effort beating four defenders. The flying winger finished with 140 run metres and 13 defenders beaten.
15. Ben Smith – 8
Made initial break for Aaron Smith try, kept busy and continuously tested the Wallaby defence.
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