All Blacks strike in 79th minute to consign former England head coach to fourth-consecutive defeat since return to lead Wallabies
A 79th-minute penalty goal from Richie Mo’unga consigned Eddie Jones to a fourth-consecutive loss as Australia head coach after the Wallabies surrendered a 14-point half-time lead under the roof in Dunedin.
Consistency over the course of a World Cup – let alone across 80 minutes of the same game – seems beyond this green side, whatever the tournament credentials of Jones and despite a relatively kind draw.
“It’s no good, mate; it’s a bad feeling,” Jones said at the final whistle after the 23-20 defeat. “We should have won that game. We did enough to win that game but we don’t have the capacity to keep doing the simple things well.”
Exciting and incisive at the beginning of this Bledisloe Cup dead-rubber, the visitors should have been further in front. In an improved performance, albeit against a significantly weakened New Zealand selection, they put together sparky passages of attack. As Sam Cane, the All Blacks captain, would admit later, Australia “fired all the shots” early on. However, they could not resist another strong second half from their hosts.