New Zealand narrowly beat Australia one month before the World Cup

Leading by 14 points at the break, New Zealand, with their 15th renewal, narrowly beat Australia 23-20 on Saturday in Dunedin, almost a month before the Rugby World Cup in France (8 September, 28 October).

A week after their crushing victory over the Australians (38-7) in the Rugby Championship, this time the New Zealanders had to rely on a last minute penalty to win this second test of the Bledisloe Cup.

After trailing 17-3 at half-time, the All Blacks responded by scoring twice in the second half through starters Shaun Stephenson and Samibeni Fino and getting a 79th-minute penalty from Richie Muunga.

“It was a real test,” captain Sam Kahn said. “We showed composure and commitment to get back into the game when we were under pressure.”

The Wallabies, who have yet to win under Eddie Jones since returning to charge the team this year, have had an encouraging performance.

While New Zealand manager Ian Foster has made 12 changes, Jones has been noticeably less displeased with his XV despite last week’s stinging setback in Melbourne.

Led by new captain Tate McDermott, the Australians scored two tries in the first seven minutes and looked to claim their first win against the All Blacks on New Zealand soil since 2001.

The first try was scored by winger Marika Korobet (3rd), before Tom Hooper drove home the point a few minutes later (7). Favored over Cooper’s quad, Carter Gordon, 22, built the Wallabies’ perfect start momentum by converting both tries and adding a penalty. The New Zealanders only had one penalty from Damien Mackenzie to eat.

After half-time the All Blacks turned up the heat and found more consistency that Stephenson went on to score a corner kick (44) before Mo’unga’s penalty kicked in to cut the deficit even further. Gordon missed the chance to put the Wallabies back in front when he found a penalty hit the post.

But Finau allowed the blacks to take the lead (63rd place). However, Cooper tied the two teams with a penalty of about 50 meters before Muunga finally delivered the win for his team on the wire.