Wallabies curse continues in NZ

The Wallabies' recurring nightmare continued on Saturday night with a thumping 10th
straight defeat in New Zealand leaving them with the Tri-Nations wooden-spoon.
The All Blacks responded emphatically to a hail of local criticism with a punishing
33-6 victory in the dead-rubber Test at Wellington's Westpac Stadium.
It extended Australia's losing streak against their arch-rivals to six straight
matches and leaves them with an eight-year drought in NZ, the scene of the 2011
World Cup.
The three-try rout was NZ's biggest thrashing of the Wallabies in six years.
Looking for a watershed back-to-back Tri-Nations success, Robbie Deans' young team
produced a forgettable display, Drew Mitchell and James O'Connor both failing
dreadfully to cope with the Cake Tin's pressure-cooker environment.
They were very much in the tussle at 9-6 late in the first half and holding the
advantage with NZ centre Isaia Toeava in the sin bin but All Blacks winger Cory
Jane's first Test try swiftly swung the momentum.
Speedster Jane, an attacking stand-out in his hour on the field, leapt high over the
top of fullback O'Connor to field a Mils Muliaina bomb and then slipped out of a
poor Mitchell cover tackle to score.
It gave the All Blacks a 16-6 halftime lead and, while the Wallabies only conceded
one more penalty goal until the 75th minute, they were completely outmuscled after
the break.
Rampaging inside centre Ma'a Nonu delivered last rites by brushing off Pek Cowan and
Matt Giteau in a storming 20m surge to score before Joe Rokocoko crossed in the
corner at the death.
NZ's under-fire coaches, who made five starting changes for the Test, could smile
with satisfaction as their wonky lineout stood tall and also produced two pivotal
late steals near their line.
The other set-piece, the scrum, was a mess throughout, a series of collapses and
resets wasting plenty of time.
Adding injury to insult, Australia's world-class loosehead prop Benn Robinson
finished with a neck injury after a collision with Nonu.
Skipper George Smith paid credit to NZ's dominant display but admitted Australia
were below par in most areas.
"We didn't have much possession in the whole game," Smith said.
"When you have a team dominating a number of areas it's very hard to get momentum
going forward."
Jane's game-turning five-pointer came as the Wallabies appeared to be well set
following a Berrick Barnes' drop goal for 9-6 scoreline and Toeava's yellow card for
a high tackle on O'Connor.
Australia opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Giteau kicked an angled
penalty goal after the All Blacks were caught out off-side near their line following
a Wallabies free kick from the first scrum.
Giteau missed another wide chance before they paid the price for a lack of urgency
at a 22m restart, allowing Dan Carter to take a short drop-kick to spark a break
that ended in NZ's first penalty goal.
Carter, who ended the night with an 18-point haul, slotted three three-pointers in
seven minutes to hold a 9-3 advantage midway through the half.