Wallabies fall short at Bledisloe 4

[Darren]

An historical 4th Bledisloe cup match (a 4 match Bledisloe series has happened only once before in 1962) played at a neutral venue for the first time ever has confirmned the Kiwis as the Bledisloe Cup holders for the 6th year in a row.

The Wallabies started strong with 2 tries by Drew Mitchell with Giteau slotting the conversions with little apparent effort. However, with full arms back in play the Wallabies conceded a raft of first half penalties with Carter's first 3 shots at goal hitting the mark giving Australia only a narrow lead of 14-9 going into the break.

After the break it was the kiwis who turned it on with unconverted tries to Sivivatu and McCaw (from an improbable Sivivatu pass). Final score: Australia 14, New Zealand 19.

As it happened (with thanks to our Hong Kong correspondant, OxleyMoron):

5:03PM Weather outlook for Hong Kong - Hot, humid, overcast skies, 29C
5:31PM Wallabies are making their way out onto the field in Honkers
5:32PM Still some vacant seats - either at the bar or stuck in traffic
5:34PM All Blacks are on the field
5:35PM Time for the anthems
5:38PM The ABs are not really enthusiastic about God defend NZ
5:39PM Bit more energy shown in the haka however. Ka mate haka
5:41PM Wallabies to kickoff - underway.
5:41PM Full arm penalties are used in this game
5:42PM Aus lineout on own 22
5:44PM Wallabies turn ball over - penalty awarded, gits kicks into touch, throw on 22
5:44PM Poor throw from Moore, turned over
5:45PM Bit of kicking with Aus throw on halfway
5:46PM Hore is limping off, Mealamu on
5:47PM Wallanies into the 22
5:48PM wallabies 5m out
5:48PM Mitchell Try
5:48PM Set up by Gits, Drew scores under the posts
5:49PM Converted 7-0 after 8 minutes
5:51PM A few scrum resets
5:52PM NZ ball 35m out from Aus line
5:53PM Full arm penalty against Aus - Baxter collapsing scrum
5:54PM Carter to have a shot. Straight through. 7-3
5:55PM 7-3, 13 mins
5:56PM Cross into the 22, wallabies 5m out, baxter knocked on 4m out.
5:57PM Penalty against brown for not retreating back from the kick, NZ ball on Aus 22
5:58PM Mealamu knocks on, 22m line
5:59PM The pitch condition is causing a few problems for scrums and players keeping their feet
5:59PM So'oialo off, Thompson on
6:00PM Penalty against G Smith - hands in the ruck. NZ throw 30m out from Aus line
6:02PM Gits down, hit without the ball by Kaino
6:04PM Good clearing kick from Mortlock
6:06PM More kicking, Aus throw on our 10m line
6:07PM Penalty against Aus - high tackle against Mortlock. NZ thrown on Aus 22
6:08PM Penalty against Brown hands in the ruck. Carter to have a shot. Got it. 7-6
6:09PM Ball on NZ 22, Aus throw
6:10PM Drew Try. From the throw, the ball went wide, Robinson with a good run, then quick hands from George
6:12PM Gits to kick from the sidleine, on the 22. Converted. 14-6 28 minutes
6:13PM Forward pass by NZ
6:15PM Penalty against Baxter - off his feet. Penalty count is about 7-1 now
6:16PM Carter to kick from halfway and got it. 14-9
6:19PM Penalty against Aus - against Mumm. NZ throw on 22.
6:20PM NZ scrum inside 22
6:23PM Well taken by burgess to clean up and deny the ABs a try
6:25PM Good kick by gits, halftime 14-9
6:26PM Not impressed with Alan Lewis's performance so far. Doesn't seem to have control of the game
6:31PM Possession is about level, penalties 7-1, handling errors 3-7
6:35PM 2nd half about to start
6:36PM Underway
6:37PM Mistake by gits, NZ throw on Aus 22
6:38PM Sivivatu try
6:39PM Carter misses 14 all
6:40PM Penalty against NZ against McCaw - strike me down. Aus scrum on NZ 5m line
6:41PM Knock on from Mortlock - flat pass hit him in the shoulder
6:42PM Penalty against Aus at scrum (Robinson collapsing scrum)
6:44PM Knock on by NZ, scrum on 10m line
6:45PM Alan Lewis has no idea
6:46PM Donald off, Nonu on
6:47PM Has started raining
6:49PM Penalty to NZ, Moore off his feet. Carter misses. 14 all
6:49PM Cowan off, Weepu on
6:51PM NZ on attack, good run by Toeava. Knocked on by Nonu with the line beckoning
6:51PM Cross off, barnes on
6:52PM NZ are starting to dominate possession and territory
6:54PM Good sweeping by Burgess along the line to clear
6:55PM Good defence from the wallabies
6:56PM 2nd half possession 18-82%
6:57PM Penalty against NZ - hands in the ruck. Penalty count 9-3
6:58PM Deans was just caught perving at some woman in the crowd
6:59PM Aus throw on our 10m line
7:00PM Aus starting to get more possession
7:01PM NZ 5m out.
7:01PM Try to McCaw
7:03PM Carter has missed 14-19, 64 min
7:04PM Kick from AAC went dead, scrum to NZ on 22m
7:04PM Waugh knocked on
7:05PM The ref just swore - wanker. Shame he wasn't hit harder by the ABs
7:06PM Aus scrum 30m out from own line
7:07PM 2 penalties in a row to Aus, NZ offside
7:08PM Boric on, Thorn off
7:08PM Gits misses with the penalty
7:10PM Knocked forward by gits from the throw. Baxter off, Dunning on
7:12PM Knock on NZ, Aus scrum about 45m out
7:12PM Kaino off, Thomson on
7:14PM Aus on the 22, knocked on by Drew
7:14PM BamBam on, Smith off
7:15PM Jane on, Toeava off
7:16PM Aus throw on 10m line
7:18PM Another good movement forward, NZ throw in on own 22, stolen.
7:18PM Penalty against Hynes, not releasing
7:20PM AAC has just kicked the ball out.
7:20PM Game over
7:21PM NZ win the Bledisloe matches this year 3-1
7:23PM It has been very frustrating not to let my emotions boil over, apologies for any bias that I might have added into the commentary.
7:25PM The northern tours now begin, Aus play Italy and NZ play Scotland
7:30PM Presentations are about to take place
7:30PM Man of the Match was Toeava
7:35PM Bledisloe Cup has been presented to McCaw
7:36PM 1 game down, 5 to go on the spring tour.
7:38PM From Hong Kong, via Whyalla, Ox is signing off.

[robyn <3]

5:48PM Mitchell Try
6:10PM Drew Try.

i ran around shouting DREW'S GOT TWO TRIES all evening when we lost i stopped though

[JediKnight]

What did you shout when he made those 2 stuff ups?!
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[robyn <3]

ARGH THAT WAS CRAP then followed by CRAP THAT WAS DREW! (i couldn't tell straight away from lack of good TV)

[Blackswan]

On way home to Perth from HK, late Tuesday night.

This match at this venue should be every year.

Bo$$ocks to Denver or wherever.

This week has been great, despite the result.

[beige]

On way home to Perth from HK, late Tuesday night.

This match at this venue should be every year.

Bo$$ocks to Denver or wherever.

This week has been great, despite the result.

How was the coverage over there? (I'd ask my friend who's from Tuen Mun but she's so difficult to get hold of right now...)

[JediKnight]

On way home to Perth from HK, late Tuesday night.

This match at this venue should be every year.

Bo$$ocks to Denver or wherever.

This week has been great, despite the result.

Well done for making the trip.

Was the stadium as empty as it looked on tv....loads of spare seats?

How was the atmosphere in the ground?

[Blackswan]

The media coverage was good. The newspapers built up the game for days before and covered the match report/result etc afterwards. There was a match special "pull out" section in the paper on Saturday and Sunday.

The supporters of either team started arriving around about Monday (based on some the guys to whome I talked) and by Thursday the bars in Wan Chai were heaving (that's a bad choice of words - say "chockers").

Same same on Friday and Saturday night with the bars overflowing onto the roads. Ably assisted by HK laws that let you walk from one bar to another with your beers. I'll try and post some pics later. It seemed that a lot of people left on the Sunday although there was still a good representation on Sunday and Monday nights. Last night was back to "normal" in Wan Chai with only the drunks and stragglers left behind. I'd prefer to think I was one of the latter.

The ground allegedly had some 39, 630'ish people in attendance although I think that's a bit on the high side of an accurate estimate. There were some empty seats but I estimated at the time that there were probably two to four thousand empty. A bit difficult to tell beacuse guys were replenishing beer throughout the match and since there were big screen tv's beneath the stands not all returned promptly or simply didn't return to their seats. Some arrived late so the ground filled up quite a bit over the first twenty minutes of the match.

The atmosphere at the ground was magic. About a 50/50 split on support for the Wobblies and Bliks. I've attended several Bleds at MCG, Sydney and Brisbane and apart from a couple of years back at the MCG (when the good guys won) I would have to say that Hong Kong was as good as anywhere else, albeit that the crowd was smaller in size. If the match was to become a regular annual or bi-annual event then it would only get better. We might even get the pronounciation of the chanting right ....... Wa-aby, A-Back, Wa-aby, A-Back ......

We could do with a stadium just like that one here in Perth.

Just off to the hospital for a liver transplant.

[Burgs]

Blackswan, I read elsewhere that there were very few "locals" ie HK Chinese, would that be your observation?
Good luck with the liver