All Blacks beat the Wallabies 28-14 in a Rugby Championship match, 11th win in a row over Australia
Original Publication Date: October 4, 2025 5:21AM
Publication Updated: October 4, 2025 6:19AM
PERTH, Australia (AP) — It’s now 11 wins in a row for the All Blacks over the Wallabies.
Center Quinn Tupaea scored first-half tries three minutes apart to give New Zealand a 17-9 halftime lead on the way to a 28-14 win over the Wallabies in a Bledisloe Cup/Rugby Championship match Saturday.
Australia hasn’t beaten New Zealand since a match in Brisbane in 2020. It’s the Wallabies’ longest losing streak against their trans-Tasman Sea opponents, having previously lost 10 straight tests against the All Blacks from 2008-10.
The 60,000 sold-out match in Perth, which was hit by steady rain for most of the second half, marked the 151st and final test for Wallabies prop James Slipper, who announced his retirement from test rugby earlier this week.
The Wallabies had three first-half penalty goals from flyhalf Tane Edmed, and Len Ikitau scored their only try in the 65th minute to pull the home side to within six points at 20-14. But a late All Blacks penalty goal and a last-minute try from prop George Bower pulled them clear.
New Zealand, which also had a first-half try from Leroy Carter, secured the Bledisloe Cup for the 23rd year with a 33-24 win over the Wallabies last week in Auckland.
South Africa was scheduled to play Argentina in the final match of the Rugby Championship later Saturday at Twickenham in London. With the bonus-point win, the All Blacks temporarily pulled into first place in the tournament.
Australia enforcer Will Skelton, who had flown in from France and his Top 14 club duties with La Rochelle to play for the Wallabies, lasted just 15 minutes. He won a breakdown penalty in the second minute, had it immediately reversed for shoving an opponent and then suffered a concussion.
Australia captain Harry Wilson bristled at a question over whether his side was at least competitive against the All Blacks on Saturday.
“We’re not out to be competitive, mate, we’re here to win,” Wilson said. ”Test footy, it’s fine margins and obviously we missed out … We’ve definitely progressed, but ultimately we didn’t get the results in the last few games which we wanted, which is really disappointing.”
His teammate Max Jorgensen was more blunt.
“A lot of silly errors that we need to get out of our game,” Jorgensen said. “You can’t be making those mistakes. If you want to be the best team in the world you’ve got to be at your best at every aspect of the game.”
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson said it was a “gritty performance” that “got a bit dirty in the rain.”
“It wasn’t the most entertaining footy at times, but it was built on a lot of shoulders and care,” he said. “We can enjoy and connect tonight, it’s really a performance we’re proud of because we’ve done it back-to-back.
“We felt we’ve played some really good footy in a lot of those games, but we put more together tonight.”
New Zealand finished the Rugby Championship with four wins and two losses, while Australia was 2-4.
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