The Test was there for the taking.
Instead, the All Blacks, reduced to 14 men at the start of the second-half, took advantage of the Wallabies’ inability to carpe diem. To seize the day.
Starting the second-half trailing 21-15 after Tate McDermott’s magical first-half, Ardie Savea was shown a yellow card when his back-row teammate Dalton Papalii should have been given his marching orders minutes earlier.
Then, disaster. Calamity even, as the All Blacks went on a tryscoring blitz to win 57-22 and seal their 19th straight Bledisloe Cup series win.
A lineout on the opposition line was not straight from Brandon Paenga-Amosa; a penalty came shortly after; and Darcy Swain tried to do it all himself and unnecessarily put his head into a ruck when he should have stayed in the line thereby leaving an overlap for Aaron Smith.
The All Blacks didn’t need a second invitation, as Smith made a…
