Australia gave captain John Eales a excellent leaving gift when they kept their nerve to beat New Zealand in front of a packed Stadium Australia Saturday night to retain the Tri-Nations title. It was also further proof they have made a seamless transition of coaches from Rod Macqueen to Eddie Jones. But whether they can survive the departure of the superbly-composed Eales is another matter.
It was Eales, with the clock ticking away, who turned down three penalties to go for a match-winning try that number eight Toutai Kefu finally delivered in the last minute of his captain's 86th and last Test. New Zealand have yet to get over the retirement of their captain, Seβn Fitzpatrick.
A decision on Eales' successor will be made on Sept 10th when the squad to tour Canada, Spain, England, France and Wales is announced. "We have a lot of hard work ahead of us," said Jones, who relishes a challenge. "There's a change in leadership with a vacuum to fill. It's an exciting period."
Macqueen retired as coach after a first-ever series triumph over the British and Irish Lions in July had capped a memorable period that included a second World Cup in 1999.
Jones, who coached the ACT Brumbies to the Super 12 championship in May, is clearly as meticulous a planner as Macqueen. "My job is to make it easy for the players," he said. "We all have to know just where we are going."
The Wallabies pounced on All Black weaknesses and kept their composure when the match seemed to be slipping away from them. "Our preparation was really good," Jones said. "And the focus has been pretty good.
"I think when we got to 19-6 up, the guys started thinking about the win subconsciously and you can see that we lost our focus in that period of time. However, when we got our focus back we played some pretty reasonable rugby.
"It shows the ability and class of the leaders in the side, especially John (Eales)," Jones continued. "He didn't make a big fuss about his retirement, he just remained focused this week and the other senior guys also helped the rest of the team stay focused."
It remains to be seen whether vice-captain and scrumhalf George Gregan, outplayed last night by the aggressive Byron Kelleher, has what it takes to be captain. "We felt if we kept on maintaining the pressure, we'd get through. We had a lot of confidence in our patterns," Eales said afterwards.
"You just can't panic, you've got to keep the pressure on." Eales believes the team he has left behind has great self-belief. "I think there's no doubt this team's grown in composure. We don't panic when situations might be getting on top of us."
Chris Latham's opening try when Jonah Lomu failed to gather outhalf Stephen Larkham's chip and a stream of Matt Burke penalties gave the world champions a 19-6 half-time lead.
The All Blacks hit back with two great tries, both engineered by inside centre Pita Alatini with superb support from the forwards. Doug Howlett, in for the injured Jeff Wilson, and Alatini crossed the Wallaby line.
And with outhalf Andrew Mehrtens pinning the Australians back in their own half with some superb kicking it looked as if New Zealand would avenge their 23-15 defeat in Dunedin earlier this month - the first time Australia had won at Carisbrook.
The game had swung New Zealand's way with 17 unanswered points in 11 minutes. Both sides had taken advantage of superior numbers when first All Black lock Norman Maxwell and then Wallaby prop Rod Moore were sin-binned for punching.
But Australia, who made five changes in the second half including bringing back Andrew Walker for an injured Burke, recovered their composure. After Walker had kicked a penalty to reduce the deficit to 22-26, Eales turned down the chance of kicking penalties as they searched for a winning try.
Kefu took a pass from Larkham and wrestled his way past four All Blacks at the posts. Two Mehrtens penalty misses and another match-saving tackle, by hooker Michael Foley on Kelleher, helped Australia to their seventh win in nine matches against New Zealand.
Eales retires having won two Tri Nations titles, a series over the British and Irish Lions, the 1991 and 1999 World Cups and six Bledisloe Cups.
A hard act to follow.
SCORERS: Australia - Tries: Latham, Kefu; Cons: Burke, Flatley; Pens: Burke (4), Andrew Walker. New Zealand - Tries: Doug Howlett, Pita Alatini; Conversions: Andrew Mehrtens (2); Penalties: Mehrtens (4).
AUSTRALIA: Burke; Latham, Herbert, Grey, Roff; Larkham, Gregan; Kefu, Smith Finegan, Eales (captain), 4-David Giffin, 3-Rod Moore, Foley, Stiles. Replacements used: Waugh, Darwin, Cockbain, Flatley, Walker. Replacements not used: Cannon, Whitaker.
NEW ZEALAND: MacDonald; Howlett, Umaga, Alatini, Lomu; Mehrtens, Kelleher; Cribb, Randell, Flavell Jack, Maxwell, Somerville, Oliver (captain), Hoeft. Replacements used: Holah, Marshall, Cullen. Replacements not used: Hammett, Hayman, Cooksley, Brown.
Referee: Tappe Henning (Rsa)
Attendance: 90,978.
