The All Blacks went one-nil up in the 2012 Bledisloe Cup with a 27-19 win over the Wallabies in Sydney. The game signalled the start of the inaugral Rugby Championship, and put the visitors in a commanding position ahead of the return match.
The Wallabies needed to win in Sydney to have a decent crack at stopping the All Blacks’ ten year Bledisloe Cup reign. As it is, they will need to travel to New Zealand’s Eden park and win next week.
AB’s coach Steve Hansen has said that he will keep the same side where possible to make sure that the combinations get their best chance of gelling.
“We’ll pick the best team we think for each game depending how people come through the previous match, but it’s unlikely there will be too many changes in the next week I wouldn’t think,” he said.
“It just gives us an opportunity to get some miles under the belt as combinations and as a team. There might have to be one or two changes due to circumstances, but I shouldn’t think there will be many.”
The All Blacks scored clincally from setpiece, as Israel Dagg and Cory Jane finished well.
“I just had to back myself, which is something I haven’t been doing much,” said Dagg of his try.
The Wallabies struck back through Nathan Sharpe, but Dan Carter edged the visitors out of reach, slotting a penalty on fulltime, preventing the hosts from getting a valuable losing bonus point.
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