Rugby News

New Zealand 22-0 Australia

It turns out Ireland aren’t the only side who can’t score against New Zealand as the All-Blacks trashed Australia in Round Two of the Rugby Championship today.

Australia’s defeat wasn’t anywhere near the 60-0 annihilation suffered by Declan Kidney’s men during the summer, but for a team that plays their near neighbours so regularly and often come out on the winning side, this loss will have hurt deeply.

By contrast, like a GAA corner back marking the opposition’s star player, the All-Blacks will have taken great pleasure from keeping Australia scoreless in what was a facile victory inspired, unsurprisingly, by the brilliance of Dan Carter, who kicked 17 points in Auckland.

Israel Dagg scored their only try of the game on a night when they should, by all accounts, have scored many more, but any day you beat Australia by 22 points without conceding is a good one and the victory ensured that Steve Hansen’s men hold onto the Bledisloe Cup for a tenth successive season.

The All-Blacks domination might be depressing for every other rugby nation, but it shows no sign of stopping yet.

Check out the highlights of the game in the video above.