There is no doubting that the Tri-Nations is the best international rugby competition there is. We were treated to a thriller on Saturday in Sydney as the All Blacks ran out winners over the Wallabies. Going into the game, the smart money was on Australia as they were playing at home but the Wallabies lacked BMT (Big Match Temperament) as they failed to close down the game after leading for the bulk of the game.

Wallaby fans will blame this loss on a couple of factors:
1) They just do not have the experience to close down games but I guess this will come with time as their team is fairly young and they will mature;
2) The injuries the Wallabies suffered during the game did not help. The loss of Barnes and O’Connor were key as that just disrupted their already disrupted backline which did not have Sterling Mortlock.

Wallaby fans may also blame the loss to the poor refereeing of Jonathan Kaplan but Kaplan had a very poor game and made bad calls for both sides. You can not say Kaplan ‘favoured’ one of the teams more than the other, he was just consistently poor through out the match.

Before I forget, whilst we are talking about Kaplan, why was Jimmy Cowan’s try disallowed?

Looking at the All Blacks; they will take the win and with it they retain the Bledisloe Cup which is a big deal in Australasia Rugby. As much as the All Blacks will enjoy this win, I am sure they will look back at the game and see that they still have a lot of work to do. The execution of the All Blacks during the game was piss poor! Too many knock ons, forward passes and dropped balls. The All Blacks used to be so clinical with their finishing but that seems to have let them down this year.

Their lineout was slightly better on Saturday but it still needs a great deal of work. As I mentioned earlier, the Wallabies may say that the reshuffling in their backline may have cost them the game, but the All Blacks also had problems of their own with the losses of McAllister and Smith during the game. Credit though must go to Stephen Donald who came on and kicked the up and unders well as he went to flyhalf.

You can not review this match without a special mention to Dan Carter. Many had thought that he would not be ready for this game after his injury and that the All Blacks were silly to bring him back so soon. But the guys quality just showed on Saturday as he steered the All Blacks to the finish line. His kicking for goal was accurate as was shown with his winning penalty goal with just two minutes left on the clock. Dan Carter has the ability to single handily turn a game and that should be a concern to the Springboks when they take on the All Blacks. Morne Steyn will really have a test up against Carter.

What will I take away from this game? - It is great to see Dan Carter back in the All Black, the Bledisloe stays in New Zealand and Kaplan should not ref anymore!