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Key events
18 mins: O’Connor doesn’t find touch with his place kick so New Zealand quickly neutralise any Australian threat. Then there’s disaster for the Wallabies as Tate McDermott stays down after being cleaned out at a ruck on halfway. And that’s his day over and he’s helped from the field. On comes Ryan Lonergan for his Test debut.
16 mins: Australia are used to playing catch-up, but this already feels like an impossible task as a decent attacking platform is frittered away by a loose pass and knock-on. The All Blacks immediately go to the sky and Clarke charges through to force the ball to the ground. New Zealand have a sniff but Tupou lays a strong tackle and eventually the Wallabies have a penalty.
TRY! New Zealand 13-3 Australia (Carter, 15)
New Zealand secure set piece ball cleanly and spread from right to left. Then they begin a series of pick-and-go drives 15m out in the centre of the field. The angle shifts to the right as the try line hoves into view. This is irresistible. Every phase purposeful, every breakdown clean. It’s not flash, but it’s patient and effective. Savea ups the tempo with a huge shove after contact. And Carter is there to pick and drive over! Too good. Australia’s defence looked like they were caught in a rip as New Zealand just surged through them at will.
Barrett misses another conversion, this time from near the right touchline.
12 mins: The All Blacks win the aerial contest on halfway following Barrett’s garryowen. The ball gets spun to the right, not once, but twice, and the Wallabies do well to retain their defensive shape. But the All Blacks keep coming at pace – they are so quick to the clearout – and going wide at every opportunity to stretch the visiting defence, denying them the opportunity to assert any pressure. Eventually a gold jersey gets a hand to an inside ball and knocks the ball out of play for a lineout on the 22.
Penalty! New Zealand 8-3 Australia (Barrett, 10)
Pollard with the pick and go following the restart threatens to set the Wallabies away again. He finds McDermott on halfeway but he’s trapped and Vaa’i forces the turnover. In the blink of an eye the ball is on New Zealand’s left wing with momentum. A breakdown penalty allows Roigard the chance to tap and go and dash to the 22. There’s support from Barrett who is hauled down just short of the line. The black jerseys rush to find a second try but Australia’s defence holds firm and play is recalled to a breakdown penalty.
Barrett cannot miss, replying instantly to O’Connor’s effort.
Penalty! New Zealand 5-3 Australia (O’Connor, 7)
From the restart Australia get a good look at the ball in New Zealand’s half. Wilson, Hooper, Salakaia-Loto, all push the gainline a few metres at a time. McDermott is busy, the clearouts are clean, excellent controlled multi-phase play, and by the 22 there’s a whistle and an arm pointing in the gold direction and O’Connor calmly slots over the penalty from point-blank range.
TRY! New Zealand 5-0 Australia (Clarke, 4)
The lineout is secured but Australia deny the maul. They concede an offside penalty advantage though so the All Blacks play with freedom. A couple of drives down the short side draw in bodies then the ball is spun cleanly from right to left until Clarke has enough room to skip around the outside, wipe away his earlier tears, and dive over in the corner. Blistering start from the All Blacks. Trademark early reverse for the Wallabies.
Barrett strikes the near post with his touchline conversion attempt.
3 mins: Off the back of the set piece Savea busts through the line on the right wing. He has Roigard in support as New Zealand rumble into the 22. With a penalty advantage Barrett attempts an audacious crossfield kick to the leaping Clarke but the mark isn’t taken and play is called back. New Zealand kick to the right corner.
2 mins: Frost secures the restart on his 22 and the Wallabies settle. The box kick to halfway is taken comfortably so the All Blacks try to build an attack, only to fail to execute a passing chain and settle instead for a lineout on halfway.
Kick-off!
The first instalment of the 2025 Bledisloe Cup is under way…
Codie Taylor leads the Haka, throwing down the challenge to the Wallabies. Kick-off is imminent.
Gah! I’m not crying, you’re crying. Actually, Caleb Clarke is crying, while his dad, former All Black Eroni Clarke sings the New Zealand national anthem. Beautiful stuff.
Today’s referee is Italian Andrea Piardi.
Ardie Savea, deputising for Scott Barrett, is the imposing figure at the front of a cavalcade of Kiwis accelerating into the afternoon gloom. To nobody’s surprise, New Zealand are top to toe in menacing black.
Australia have made a habit of starting matches slowly, something skipper Harry Wilson is keen to remedy.
Yeah, we definitely need to start better. That’s pretty clear and obvious from everyone.
How to beat the All Blacks?
We’ve just got to win the collisions. They’re they’re a classy team. But if we can get them up front it will make the job a lot easier for our backs.
The Wallabies are being led onto the Eden Park turf by No 1 James Slipper. Today he becomes only the third international to register 150 caps.
Australia are wearing their traditional golden jerseys, green shorts, green socks.
Conditions are fine in Auckland. It’s relatively mild, there’s been a little rain drifting around, but there’s not much breeze to speak of.
The Rugby Championship is the most engrossing it has ever been, but as Gerard Meagher writes, there’s no guarantee the good times will continue for long.
Enjoy it, because the Rugby Championship is set for a hiatus next year and there remains uncertainty as to what will happen thereafter. In 2026, following the first tranche of the inaugural Nations Cup matches, New Zealand are set to tour South Africa in what is being billed as the Greatest Rivalry. Three Tests are expected – with a money-spinning fourth mooted for a neutral venue, possibly Twickenham – and a handful of tour matches involving club sides. The Greatest Rivalry has not been formally announced yet and though there is still scope for fixtures including all four nations, the Rugby Championship as we know it will be put on hold soon enough. In 2027, with Australia hosting the World Cup in October and November, it will be truncated and there are conflicting reports as to what may happen in 2028 and 2029 before South Africa likely embark on a bumper tour of New Zealand in 2030.
Returning to Australia’s current world ranking of seventh, for a moment, this could prove significant at the 2027 World Cup on home soil. With the tournament expanding to 24 teams for the first time, the group phase will feature six pools of four nations. The six top-ranked sides in the world will be separated at this stage of the draw, and if early matches go to form, they should also avoid each other in the first knockout stage (round of 16). The ranking cut-off point for this huge advantage is December 2025.
Rankings points are traded during each Test. These are based on the match result, the relative strength of each team, the margin of victory, and there is an allowance for home advantage. In short, this means underdog victories are worth their weight in gold, while upsets at home can prove very costly.
Australia and Argentina are locked in a battle for that crucial sixth spot. Last week, Australia lost 1.55 points, while Argentina gained 1.56 points, as the teams exchanged places on the standings. A visit to Eden Park is something of a free hit, but every Test between now and December carries significance beyond the 80 minutes of action.
Angus Fontaine reflects on the last time the Wallabies got one over the All Blacks at Eden Park.
If “it’s the hope that kills you” then Wallabies fans have been dying a slow death for 39 years at Eden Park, the venue for this Saturday’s first Test of the Bledisloe Cup.
The Auckland venue is the All Blacks’ fortress. They have not lost there since 1994 and are unbeaten across 51 Tests (49 wins, two draws). No Australian team has won at Eden Park since the 1986 side led by Andrew Slack and coached by Alan Jones.
If you were worried about Australia’s chances today, or any day, just turn on Australian TV. The seventh ranked team in the world, that have lost 11 of their past 18 Tests, apparently have a “world class” 15 that anybody in the country could name in the pub … despite today’s line-up featuring a new second row, third-choice fullback, and umpteenth halves pairing…
The All Blacks, by contrast, and “hardworking” and “under pressure”.
Does the relentless uncritical cheerleading actually serve a useful purpose?
Australia XV
Changes aplenty for Joe Schmidt as Australia’s preparations have been hit by injuries. There’s a new lock pairing, the bullocking Rob Valentini is missing, there’s yet another fresh partnership in the halves, and the second-choice fullback is crocked. Add to that the continued absence of the totemic Will Skelton and you have a Wallabies line-up some way below full potential.
Fifteen years after his 2010 debut against England, 36-year-old loosehead prop James Slipper becomes the third player to reach the 150-cap milestone following locks Alun Wyn Jones of Wales and New Zealand’s Sam Whitelock.
1 James Slipper, 2 Billy Pollard, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 6 Tom Hooper, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson (captain), 9 Tate McDermott, 10 James O’Connor, 11 Corey Toole, 12 Len Ikitau, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 14 Harry Potteer, 15 Max Jorgensen.
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Carlo Tizzano, 21 Ryan Lonergan, 22 Tane Edmed, 23 Filipo Daugunu.
New Zealand XV
The All Blacks have brought in five new faces to their 23. Cam Roigard and Cortez Ratima return from injury to share halfback duties, Caleb Clarke will start on the left wing for his first game of the season. Lock Patrick Tuipulotu returns on the bench alongside loose forward Peter Lakai.
The imposing Scott Barrett misses out with a shoulder injury but he is expected to be passed fit for the return match in Perth.
1. Ethan de Groot, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 4. Fabian Holland, 5. Tupou Vaa’i, 6. Simon Parker, 7. Ardie Savea, 8. Wallace Sititi, 9. Cam Roigard, 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Caleb Clarke, 12. Jordie Barrett, 13. Billy Proctor, 14. Leroy Carter, 15. Will Jordan.
Replacements: 16. Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17. Tamaiti Williams, 18. Fletcher Newell, 19. Patrick Tuipulotu, 20. Peter Lakai, 21. Cortez Ratima, 22. Quinn Tupaea, 23. Damian McKenzie.
Angus Fontaine sets the scene from an Australian perspective.
To beat New Zealand at home, all the stars must align. You’ve got to pick a smart side, play the right style, win over the referee and catch a little luck along the way. Silencing the crowd early, with fast points or fierce attack and defence, helps too. Even then, there are no guarantees against the All Blacks. And they are never more dangerous than when wounded, as Scott Robertson’s side certainly is after their worst ever Test defeat last week, a 43-10 spifflication by South Africa in Wellington.
Yet instead of smelling blood and making plans to dismantle an enemy in disarray, the Wallabies inexplicably sent two of their most important players on magical mystery tours to the far side of the planet. James O’Connor and Will Skelton were allowed to return to their clubs Leicester and La Rochelle despite being crucial to Australia’s chances of ending a 23-year Bledisloe Cup drought and snapping New Zealand’s 31-year-long, 51-Test unbeaten streak at their “fortress” of Eden Park.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of New Zealand v Australia in round five of the 2025 Rugby Championship. Kick-off at Eden Park in Auckland is scheduled for 5.05pm NZST (3.05pm AEST).
As the battle for the Bledisloe Cup recommences the Rugby Championship is at the most interesting juncture in its short history. After four rounds all four competing nations have two wins and two losses, and all have celebrated victories overseas.
The Wallabies secured theirs at Ellis Park in round one, since when they have suffered two defeats and conjured a Houdini-like escape in the 86th minute at home to Argentina. Yet their remains a feelgood factor around Australian rugby in the wake of a promising Lions series, the emergence of a clutch of youthful world class talents, and the beginning of a narrative pointing towards the 2027 World Cup on home soil.
The same cannot be said about the All Blacks. They suffered a humiliating defeat to the Springboks a fortnight ago in Wellington and are now closer on World Rugby’s rankings to England in fifth place, than they are to South Africa in top spot.
With New Zealand’s pride stung, the Wallabies could be heading to Eden Park at the worst possible moment. Not that there’s ever a good moment to venture to one of the most secure fortresses in world sport. The All Blacks are unbeaten at the venue in the past 51 tests over 31 years and the Wallabies haven’t tasted victory there since 1986.
I’ll be back with the line-ups shortly. If you want to get in touch this afternoon, the address is [email protected].
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