Bledisloe Cup Rugby: The Wallabies surprised the All Blacks as both teams receive red cards in the Tri Nations physical match

Wallabies 24
All black 22

Drama, controversy, low shots without the ball, two red cards and a surprising surprise from the Wallabies. This match had it all.

Suncorp Stadium has proved problematic again for the All Blacks, with a win of their last five attempts at the Brisbane venue, while the Wallabies are now undefeated in seven consecutive events there.

Seven days after suffering a 38-point loss, the toughest against the All Blacks, Dave Rennie’s Wallabies made a remarkable turnaround to hand Ian Foster the first loss of his tenure thanks to an attempt by Taniela Tupou in the 76th minute. .

Australian referee Nic Berry, who struggled to control the game, dealt four cards, two red and two yellow, but the All Blacks will not look for excuses.

Scott Barrett’s yellow card for a cynical ruck infraction with 12 minutes remaining was decisive, forcing the All Blacks to bravely contest much of the final stages with 13 men.

Ardie Savea, along with captain Sam Cane, put on an inspiring performance and it was his charge that led to a late try by Tupou Vaa’i that gave the All Blacks hope, but it turned out to be a comforting effort in the end.

Tuning in as a neutral observer, you wouldn’t know that the Bledisloe Cup was locked up by the All Blacks last week.

This wasn’t exactly a great endorsement for playing by the rules, but it sure was a passionate and frenzied contest that left everyone involved on their feet.

Wallabies debut wing Tom Wright and the All Blacks alongside Rieko Ioane traded early attempts, but the fourth Bledisloe of the year turned around when Ofa Tuungafasi became the fifth All Black to receive a red card in a test, after Cyril Brownlie (1925), Sir Colin Meads (1967), Sonny Bill Williams (2017) and Scott Barrett (2019).

The Blues mainstay caught Wright, crouching at the tackle, with a shoulder to the head in the 23rd minute, and Berry believed there were no mitigating factors in play, so he showed his first red card.

After the selectors’ decision to make 10 initial changes, including two positionals, the All Blacks suddenly found themselves under immense pressure, in a completely different situation than their record win in Sydney.

Unfortunately for Akira Ioane, when the next scrum was full, his test debut ended after 30 minutes when Hurricanes mainstay Tyrel Lomax was needed to replace Tuungafasi. Ioane, up to that point, was very impressive with a strong carry, several revealing defensive plays and a steal lineout.

Twelve minutes after Tuungafasi’s departure, Berry had no choice but to issue his second red to Wallabies wing Lachie Swinton, who likewise drew attention with a damaging defense on debut after he hit Sam Whitelock. with the shoulder on the head.

The debate will rage over Berry’s decisions but at least he was at least consistent with his two reds.

Despite handing out 16 penalties in the first half, 23 in total, Berry struggled to end the low shots of the ball as spirits regularly raged.

With the All Blacks on the attack as halftime approached, Berry reduced the Wallabies to 13 men by trashing Marika Koroibete for repeated team infractions.

While the All Blacks drew 8-8 before the break via a Jordie Barrett penalty, they were unable to capitalize on their advantage with Koroibete off the field.

Codie Taylor’s try from a lineout early in the second half put the All Blacks ahead and the expectation from there was that they would maintain their composure to close out the win.

Instead, however, Reece Hodge calmed down penalties to take out the Wallabies and Auckland school mainstay Tupou crashed to deliver the final blow.

The victory is sure to bring Rennie’s Wallabies back to life after such a disappointing result last week.

While under difficult circumstances, the All Blacks will be disappointed with some of his management of the game when the game was on the line, and the passive nature of his tight defensive work.

In hindsight, with his team playing fatigued, Foster might have injected players like running back Brad Weber off the bench earlier, but after a result like this, he will now have a much clearer picture of his first starting team.

All black 22 (Rieko Ioane, Codie Taylor, Tupou Vaa’i tries; Jordie Barrett 2 cons, pen)
Wallabies 24 (Tom Wright, Taniela Tupou tries; Reece Hodge scam, 4 pens)
HT: 8-8