New Zealand narrowly beat Australia

narrow victory. This Saturday, on the Dunedin side, New Zealand beat Australia (23-20), in its second Bledisloe Cup test, as part of its preparations before the 2023 edition of the World Cup, which will take place between Friday 8 September. and Saturday, October 28, alongside France. This success was far from easy, in contrast to the more impressive success last week, in the Rugby Championship (38-7), in Melbourne.

Indeed, at the break the All Blacks, with their XV revamped for the occasion and no fewer than a dozen changes made by coach Ian Foster, led them up to fourteen units (3-17). Mistaken by Australia scoring no less than two tries in the first seven minutes of play, courtesy of winger Marika Corupetti (third) and then Tom Hooper (seventh). Carter Gordon (22), who favored Cooper’s quad, converted both of those tries and scored a penalty. In the second term, the New Zealanders, who scored only one penalty thanks to Damien Cockenzie (14th place), in the first half, came back again, especially by increasing the intensity.

All this happened at the last minute

Thanks to two tries scored by two rookies, Shaun Stevenson, corner (44th) and Samipeni Finau (63rd). Meanwhile, Richie Muunga scored a penalty kick (58). The two selections returned to equality, with a penalty kick, nearly 50 meters away, from Cooper (73). This time, it was all played out after that in the last minute thanks to a new penalty kick kicked in by Muunga in the 79th minute. New Zealand are continuing their unbeaten streak, with this their 11th consecutive unbeaten meeting. In contrast, Australia are still looking for their first victory since the return of Eddie Jones at the helm. Despite last week’s big defeat, Jones decided to make very few changes to his 15th start, led by new captain Tate McDermott. Australia has not beaten New Zealand at home since 2001.