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Australia’s Eden Park hoodoo will enter a fourth decade after New Zealand saw off another exciting Wallabies comeback to clinch a 33-24 win at their fortress and ensure the Bledisloe Cup remains in the All Blacks’ hands for a 24th consecutive year.
Despite two decades of one-way traffic, this Bledisloe Test was the most tantalising in years. New Zealand were the Rugby Championship’s fastest starters and Australia the slowest. So for the Wallabies to be 13-3 down after 15 minutes surprised few. The men in black were red hot from the get-go, moving with cohesion and precision, each pass and kick a dagger. Australia were back-pedalling, making mistakes, losing collisions.
Caleb Clarke had cried through the anthems but his tears had dried in time to finish a slick catch and pass in the fourth minute. Courage from Corey Toole in the air set up Australia’s counter with a pick and drive that rolled upfield. O’Connor took three points to get the Wallabies on the scoreboard, but it was a shiv against a shotgun as Ardie Savea soon sent Leroy Carter rumbling over for the home side’s second try.
With 20% possession inside the first quarter, Australia went mad with starvation. Errors and ill-discipline plagued them and their key cogs were the worst culprits. Captain Harry Wilson was twice penalised for no-arms tackles. James O’Connor missed an easy touch and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii kept on misreading the angles.
The Wallabies went further down when wily halfback Cam Roigard slithered over the stripe for the home side’s third try. Even at 20-3, Australia had bigger issues, Tate McDermott hobbling off with a leg injury and rookie Ryan Lonergan thrown into fray for his Test debut. But slowly they worked their way back into the game.
When Australia last won at Eden Park in 1986, it was prop Topo Rodríguez who turned the tide with a back slam tackle. Australia’s own bruise brothers Taniela Tupou and James Slipper delivered the 2025 version, levelling their opponents in a hot minute to set up a Len Ikitau charge for hooker Billy Pollard’s low road to the line.
The All Blacks coach Scott Robertson had warned his players that this Australian side “won’t go away”. Now, at 20-10, Australia found their mojo, bending the All Blacks’ line to create quick ball for O’Connor. His crisp hands found Ikitau again on a wicked angle and wing Harry Potter was there to snaffle the offload and cross.
At half-time it was 20-17 and a different trend bore closer inspection: Australia’s fast finishes and New Zealand’s second-half implosion against South Africa last round. The Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt went for broke in the second half, unleashing Angus Bell and Allan Alaalatoa upfront and upping their line speed in defence to create pressure.
But it counted for little as the referee Andrea Piardi’s whistle blew Australia an ill wind. Dubious calls against Tom Hooper and Fraser McReight let Damian McKenzie kick New Zealand nine points clear. In between, O’Connor salted the wound by punting a kick off long and, minutes later, again failing to find touch with Australia on attack.
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Dumb errors. Easy points. Blown chances. Here were the Wallabies of old. Against All Blacks of old it might have spelled curtains. But this was 2025. Australia had arrived as tournament leaders, New Zealand fresh from a record defeat. Instead of dropping their heads, the men in gold kept punching, refusing to yield, continuing to attack.
At 26-17, the All Blacks flinched. Roigard, their standout, knocked on cold and the Wallabies barrelled upfield. Frantic hands got them within metres of the line where a fast lineout and mighty surge put Carlo Tizzano over the chalk for 26-24. After 39 years of defeats at Eden Park, Australia were within one score of victory.
But The Fortress is well named and in 51 Tests over 31 years had never been breached. When Potter was shown a yellow card in the 73rd minute, New Zealand went for the throat, Jordie Barrett catching Australia on their heels with a deft inside ball for Roigard to skip away for his second try. McKenzie’s conversion made it an unassailable 33-24.
Wilson lamented his side’s dire first quarters in Tests this year. “Credit to New Zealand they outplayed us tonight,” the Wallabies captain said. “We’re definitely on the right track. We just can’t keep giving teams head starts. The Rugby Championship is still alive, so there’s a lot for us to play for next week.”
There will fierce debate over several penalties that cost the Wallabies dearly but history will show another New Zealand win, and for Australia, another fade to black.
