New Zealand 35-29 Australia: All Blacks win Dunedin thriller
Last Updated: 26/08/17 1:42pm
The All Blacks beat the Wallabies 35-29 in a thrilling game of rugby in Dunedin to retain the Bledisloe Cup.
The Wallabies raced to a 17-0 lead thanks to tries from Israel Folau, Michael Hooper and Bernard Foley, but the All Blacks came roaring back with tries from Rieko Ioane and Aaron Smith to leave the visitors 17-14 ahead at the break.
The score remained that way throughout the third quarter, before Beauden Barrett put his side ahead for the first time in the game with a try out wide and the conversion in the 62nd minute.
The lead changed hands several times thereafter, with Will Genia going over for a 22-21 advantage which was followed by a converted Ben Smith try to put New Zealand 28-22 ahead. Kurtley Beale was next to score with four minutes remaining to edge the Wallabies in front after Foley's conversion, but the All Blacks claimed the restart and Barrett got on the end of quick passing to score the winning try to bring down the curtain on a thrilling Test.
Having slipped 54-6 down last week, Australia earned praise for their fightback that saw them reduce the arrears to 54-34 and they picked up where they let off.
Folau ran the length of the field after collecting a misplaced pass from Damian McKenzie to open the scoring inside the first 30 seconds.
The home supporters were further silenced when Hooper barged out of a driving maul and through poor tackling to touch down before the flanker teed up Foley to go over.
But Ioane got New Zealand on the scoresheet after collecting an inside pass from scrum-half Smith, who then touched down on the hooter following some sustained scrum pressure from the hosts.
Barrett got his first just after the hour mark to put New Zealand in front for the first time and although Australia retook the lead in the 67th minute when Genia ran straight through a ruck, they held only a one-point advantage due to the polarised goalkicking of Foley and Barrett.
A topsy-turvy half continued when Ben Smith touched down on the overlap eight minutes from time, only for Australia to respond shortly afterwards when a bloodied Beale burst through a gap to score under the posts.
That left Foley with a simple conversion to give Australia a one-point lead with four minutes remaining.
New Zealand, though, were able to win the ball from the restart and an offload from Kieran Read allowed TJ Perenara to put through Barrett, who ran to the line unchallenged to cap a dramatic encounter.