Gutsy Wallabies shock the All Blacks to end drought

Australia withstood a furious late charge to upset New Zealand 23-18 in a pulsating Bledisloe Cup match on Saturday, piercing a fresh hole in the world champions’ aura of invincibility.

Reece Hodge’s monster, 53-metre penalty just before the final whistle sealed victory for the Wallabies, who celebrated just their second win in 19 games against their exalted neighbours.

After trailing by one point at half-time, Australia fought back to claim a physical victory over the All Blacks, scoring three tries to two in a high-quality match.

New Zealand, who had already retained the Bledisloe Cup after winning the opening two games during the Rugby Championship, dominated early and seemed certain to make it a clean sweep in Brisbane.

But the Wallabies, wearing a specially designed jersey to honour Australia’s indigenous players, dug deep in the second half to take the lead before holding off the visitors’ trademark late surge.

“At half-time we said this game is going to come down to the last few minutes,” Australian coach Michael Cheika said.

“You’re not going to defeat the world champions with 20 minutes to go — it just doesn’t happen.

“We had some setbacks before that, but we also made some key plays.”

The Wallabies had come agonisingly close to ending their run of defeats against New Zealand when they conceded a late converted try to lose 35-29 in Dunedin in August.

But they stood firm to hand a second defeat of the season to the All Blacks, who will be going for their third straight World Cup title in two years’ time in Japan.

Cheika said he wasn’t getting carried away with the win.

“I’ve always got it in the back of my mind is our duty is to bring back the trophy, which we haven’t done,” he said.

“As enjoyable as the win was, the disappointment of not winning the cup still resonates with me.”

Although New Zealand have retained their Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup titles this year, they also drew their three-Test series with the British and Irish Lions and haven’t exerted the same dominance of recent years.

As well as their last-gasp win over Australia in August, they trailed Argentina in the second half in New Plymouth and beat South Africa by a single point this month in Cape Town.

“They deserved the win,” All Blacks coach Steve Hansen conceded.

“They worked hard and put us under pressure as well.

“Hopefully they kick on and have a great northern tour.”