Wallabies fall short in Rugby Championship opener

The Wallabies have fallen to their trans-Tasman rivals the All Blacks by eight points at ANZ Stadium this evening in front of a strong crowd of 76,877.

The All Blacks led by the same margin at half-time and despite a number of efforts by the Wallabies to pull back the All Blacks they couldn’t quite stem the New Zealander’s ability to score.

The Wallabies cut the eight-point half time gap to just five points in the 45th minute, through a penalty goal from Berrick Barnes.

The All Blacks pulled back to an eight point break three minutes later thanks to another penalty goal from All Blacks fly half, Dan Carter.

Another penalty goal to Barnes in the 50th minute kept the Wallabies in the hunt pegging the New Zealanders back to just five points.

The Wallabies and the All Blacks continued to exchange penalty goals with the All Blacks kicking away again in the 63rd minute before being pegged by the Australian’s an the boot of Berrick Barnes again in the 76th minute.

Despite a desperate push in the final few minutes the Wallabies couldn’t break the All Blacks line and following an after the siren penalty goal to Dan Carter will head to Auckland next week looking for revenge.

The final penalty goal by the All Blacks denied the Wallabies a bonus point in the opening Test of the Castrol Edge Rugby Championship.

New Zealand - 27
Tries: Israel Dagg, Cory Jane
Conversions: Daniel Carter 1/2
Penalty Goals: Daniel Carter 5/6
Drop Goals: Nil

Australia - 19
Tries: Nathan Sharpe
Conversions: Berrick Barnes 1/1
Penalty Goals: Berrick Barnes 4/4
Drop Goals: Nil

Crowd: 76,877 @ ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Referee: Alain Rolland (IRL)
Half Time: New Zealand 18-10

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