The All Blacks continued their long winning streak over the Wallabies with a 21-43 victory at the Accor Stadium on Saturday.
Here are our Wallabies player ratings.
Backs
15 Tom Wright: One of the Wallabies’ better players. Showed smooth hands when needed and provided great link-up play in attack, being justly rewarded for his hard work with a try in the 53rd minute. Made a couple of handling mistakes in the second half, but a solid performance all in all. 7
14 Max Jorgensen: Involved plenty throughout, showing excellent pace and attacking prowess in the rare moments the Wallabies had the ball. Guilty of losing possession a couple of times, but cannot be blamed for his aspirations in attack, particularly when the moments were so few and far between. 8
13 Joseph Sua’ali’i: Great offload to set up an early Wallabies breakaway, but struggled from then on. Looked lost in defence, often caught out of position, and missed a poor five tackles in total. The All Blacks exploited him on multiple occasions, with the former league man unable to smother the visitors’ all-firing attack. 3
12 Isaac Henry: Like his midfield partner, Henry looked unsure defensively, leaving huge gaps in the midfield as the duo failed to close down the multiple attacking options the All Blacks threatened with. His performance improved in the second half from an attacking perspective, however, making plenty of important carries and beating five defenders, which proved vital to the Wallabies’ attacking platform. 7
11 Harry Potter: Showed power on attack and good tackling when called upon, but failed to get involved quite as much as he would have liked. 5
10 Declan Meredith: A disastrous first half, panicking under pressure, but a much better second half saw him take the game by the scruff of the neck and use his impressive running game to threaten the All Blacks’ gainline. The victim of a poor attacking platform, essentially, redeemed by a much-improved second-half team performance. 6
9 Ryan Lonergan: Brilliant first turnover on the ground, and did everything he could on the attack, but ultimately, his pack struggled, so the Brumbies number nine was unable to influence the game as much as he’d have hoped. Defensively, he proved a bit of a weak link too, missing five tackles. 4
Forwards
8 Harry Wilson: Did his best to drag his team out of the depths with some powerful carries, but failed to make the impact needed, being smashed back more often than not, making just 21 metres from 15 carries. Frustration showed when referee Luke Pearce explained why Meredith’s try wasn’t to be awarded. 5
7 Fraser McReight: It would be a surprise if this man didn’t top the tackle charts for the Wallabies. As always, it was an industrious performance from the openside flanker who slowed down the All Blacks‘ attack, stopping them from running away with the game in the second half. 7
6 Rob Valetini: Missed the tackle on Moorby for the opening try, and found wanting in the tackle area a few times later on. His main attribute is often his physicality, but on Saturday he was often second best. Did put the effort in though, making a couple of impressive trademark charges at the All Blacks defence. 5
5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto: It was a quiet showing from the giant lock. He missed just one tackle and was turned over once, but he was otherwise solid. Nothing to be ashamed of, but also nothing to write home about. 5
4 Jeremy Williams: After hammering the All Blacks line on his own, he scored the opening try for Australia in what would be a largely impressive performance from the Western Force lock. 6
3 Allan Alaalatoa: Hooked just after half-time after missing a couple of tackles and being targeted in defence. Didn’t touch the ball either, other than to make a couple of passes – not the impact Les Kiss would have wanted from his prop. 4
2 Josh Nasser: Although a lineout or two went astray, he was pretty effective overall, making 14 tackles and missing just one. 6
1 Aidan Ross: A busy opening few minutes, but faded from then on. Pretty effective in the scrum, but failed to make much of an impact as the game went on. 5
Replacements: Filipo Daugunu was the standout substitution, beating six defenders and scoring Australia’s third try of the afternoon. He wasn’t the only one to make an impact, however. In fact, the entire bench – most arriving shortly into the second half – helped solidify the attacking platform, giving the hosts a way back into the game, and saving what, at one stage, was looking to become a serious embarrassment. 8