Laurie Mains saw plenty of positive signs in the All Blacks’ game against the Wallabies, despite the criticism that followed the 31-28 triumph.

New Zealand survived a thrilling Australia comeback to cling on to a narrow victory in Sydney and continue their stronghold over the Bledisloe Cup.

New Zealand scored four tries in the first 25 minutes and held off a second-half Australia fightback with 13 men to beat the Wallabies 31-28 in a Rugby Championship thriller.

In their last defeat in Cape Town, the All Blacks failed to score a try for the first time in six years. The All Blacks have claimed 24 tries from seven tests this year, including four in the loss to the Springboks at Ellis Park and seven against Fiji in San Diego,

The Bledisloe Cup series between Australia and New Zealand comes around each year as a high point of the Southern Hemisphere rugby season.

Australia have lost their eighth-straight Test to New Zealand and bungled another chance to snatch their first Bledisloe Cup series victory since 2002, going down 31-28 before a crowd of 68,061 at Accor Stadium in Sydney.

Again, the All Blacks have failed to score a point in the last 20 minutes of a test.

The All Blacks rebound from consecutive Rugby Championship defeats against world champions South Africa. Read more at straitstimes.com.

New Zealand scored four tries in the first 25 minutes and held off a late Australian fightback with 13 men to beat the Wallabies 31-28 in a Rugby Championship thriller at Stadium Australia on Saturday.

New Zealand scored four tries in the first 25 minutes and held off a late Australian fightback with 13 men to beat the Wallabies 31-28 in a Rugby Championship thriller at Stadium Australia. The All Blacks were held to one penalty in the second half and lost two players to yellow cards,