I said the Kiwis by 9 points - I was just one short of the mark with the All Blacks getting up 34-24 over the Wallabies last night in Auckland. Mind you, nine of those points the All Blacks scored were gifted by Mat Dunning through 3 penalties. Argh!

The All Blacks came out fighting and were up 20-0 after the first quarter in a dominant display. Eddie Jones must have stuck it to the boys at half time though, and the Wallabies came out and bunged on 19 points to narrow the lead to just one point. Then Mat Dunning came on and gave away three penalties in relatively quick succession which were promptly converted into points. Doh! Still, Dunning can't shoulder the blame for the loss - it wasn't until the second half that the Australian forwards seemed to remember, as a group, what the term 'clean out' entails!

The highlight of the game was seeing Lloyd Johansson come on and score a try within minutes of making his test debut. Congratz! Johansson was brought on after Clyde Rathbone got smashed in a tackle. It looked painful!

Mat Rogers had a good game at Flyhalf, he sure has some heart. Lote had a great second half at centre, but for the Wallabies it wasn't to be - too many handling errors coughed up the ball. The Australian line out was abysmal, and the scrummaging left a lot to be desired. Still, it could have been a lot worse.

The win gives the Kiwis both the Bledisloe and the Tri Nations Cup for 2005. While South Africa's win/lose record for the series was the same as the Enzeders, the Kiwis take the cup on bonus points. That's probably a fitting result.

The fall out of Australia's 5th successive loss will no doubt continue.....

Later!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there :)