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'Pretty easy decision': Whitelock on bold call to close out a wild Bledisloe test
By
Ned Lester
A dramatic finish in Melbourne Thursday night saw the All Blacks retain the Bledisloe Cup for the 20th consecutive year with a last-gasp 39-37 win.
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While the big talking point post match was the referee’s decision to penalise Australia for time wasting, a bold call from the All Blacks’ stand in captain Sam Whitelock just a minute earlier also dictated the final result.
There were just two minutes left in the match with the All Blacks trailing by three points when Australia were pinged for sealing off at the ruck, gifting the All Blacks a penalty just outside the Australian 22 and 15 meters in field.
Richie Mo’unga had nailed all six of his kicks off the tee in the game and the position would have made for a sure fire three points to tie the match.
Instead, Whitelock called for Mo’unga to kick for the corner, opting to back his teams ability to execute a final attack in the dying minutes and go for the win rather than a draw.
Sam Whitelock expressed zero reservations about his decision when asked if he had any doubts about the call post game:
“No, it was pretty clear in the moment,” he said.
“I felt like we had mauled pretty well through the game, so I felt like we had an opportunity there to win the game.
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“Obviously, taking the points would have drawn it, which sends it to next week, so it was a pretty easy decision to make in the end.”
The All Black veteran’s demeanour was remarkably calm given the scenes that had just unfolded.
The pressure on the decision was epic, with 20 years of Bledisloe dominance as well as potentially The Rugby Championship on the line.
The All Blacks were leading by as many as 18 points in the second half but couldn’t put the Wallabies away. When asked about his oppositions comeback, Whitelock’s response looked internally.
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“We’ll go back and have a really good look at it,” he said.
“My gut at the moment tells me our discipline, and I think it comes from the set piece, we got penalised a couple times for closing the gap so that’s just an easy piggy back down the field, that’s just myself mainly.
“We can’t afford that, we can’t give a team that’s high on emotion, high on momentum, an opportunity to come into our 22 and they showed, give them half an opportunity, they scored seven points.”
A 31-13 lead with 20 minutes reaming turned into a 37-34 deficit with jut two minutes on the clock. The game itself was a microcosm of a tournament that has seen huge inconsistencies in form across all teams.
“Every game means a massive amount to us individually but us as a team, and we’re not hiding from the fact that we’ve had a bit of an up and down year so far so to get back to back wins…
“We were in a pretty good spot to finish strongly rather than let them come back with all the momentum but to get the win is what we always want to do first and then assess how we got it.
“I know Fozzie will have a big long list to look at during the review, we need to look at those things and work out how we can do it better because at times this year we have done it well, but tonight we did allow a good side back in.”
