Another win for All Blacks

New Zealand retained the Bledisloe Cup on Saturday with a 20-10 victory over Australia at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch.

The All Blacks notched up their ninth straight win over the Wallabies thanks to tries from Mils Muliaina and Conrad Smith plus 10 points from the boot of Dan Carter.

But the final scoreline meant the hosts fell agonisingly short of regaining their Tri-Nations crown after missing out on the bonus point required to seal the title.

Australia, much improved from last weekend's 49-28 defeat in Melbourne, sought to control the tempo during a high octane opening five minutes.

But they could not break down a resolute All Blacks defence and it was a loose clearance by the visitors that led to them conceding the opening try.

A great break up the midfield by lock Tom Donnelly put the hosts in a good attacking position from where they worked the ball wide.

Stunning

Keven Mealamu's pass put winger Joe Rokocoko into space and he fed full-back Muliaina who scampered down the touchline to cross in the corner.

Carter added the extras with a difficult effort from wide on the left to open up a seven point lead after as many minutes.

Australia hit back rapidly however, when just two minutes later Kurtley Beale produced a brilliant solo effort and Matt Giteau converted to level the scores.

The visitors reply came when flanker David Pocock pounced on an attempted offload by Carter deep inside the Wallaby 22.

Nathan Sharpe fed Beale with a sweet inside ball and the full-back injected a stunning burst of pace to power 70 metres to the line.

Carter quickly made amends for his mistake when on 14 minutes the fly-half found Piri Weepu with a neat pass after Sharpe fumbled 30 metres from his own line.

The New Zealand scrum-half fired a wide pass out to Ma'a Nonu, who put fellow centre Smith in at the corner.

Attrition

Carter then struck another difficult touchline conversion to re-establish his side's seven point advantage.

Giteau closed the gap with a 19th minute penalty but Carter slotted three more close to half time to take his side into the interval with a 17-10 lead.

The second half proved to be a much tighter affair but Australia continued to struggle to break down the All Blacks defence as the match increasingly became a battle of attrition.

The only points of the second half came after 30 minutes of play when the Wallabies were caught offside at the breakdown.

Carter hit a simple penalty from in front of the posts to take the game out of Australia's reach.

New Zealand will now have to wait until they meet South Africa in Johannesburg on August 21 for their chance to wrap up the Tri-Nations title.