The Wallabies blew it - big time. This was their best chance in ages to end the 23-year Eden Park hoodoo and once again they suffered from stage fright, squandering an early 10-point lead and wasting several massive opportunities to put the All Blacks away.
The Wallabies cannot blame anyone but themselves for once again leaving Auckland with nothing when they had many chances to get well ahead of a committed but far from impressive New Zealand outfit, only to constantly lose possession in the opposition quarter.
Gift tries were missed through wrong back-line options and nearly every time they found themselves with the upper hand in the All Blacks' quarter someone in the Australian team would lose the ball at the breakdown. Good lead-up work was over and over again ruined by the Wallabies' inability to maintain the pressure.
For the upteenth time since 1986, the Wallabies showed they are not yet mentally up to beating the All Blacks on home soil. They are too easily intimidated. The skills and fitness have improved in the past year but the killer instinct is not there.
And, most importantly, the Wallabies cannot match the All Blacks in keeping their composure or momentum, especially in the second half when the home team picked up the pace. As usual, the Wallabies had great moments but then fluffed their lines at the crucial time.
One of the few Wallabies who did stand up to the tension was fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper, but too many others in the green and gold didn't.
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans and his players tried to remain upbeat after the game, but the pain was obvious.
"We didn't take the opportunities and we enabled the All Blacks to play conservative and grind it out," Deans said. "It is frustrating to finish short."
Adding to the pain was that the Wallabies began the Test in spectacular fashion when inside-centre Berrick Barnes showed his deft skills by bluffing the All Blacks defence with a smart weave and a sneaky dummy pass, which opened the way for him to score the opening try in just the fourth minute.
Sadly, the Wallabies were unable to take full advantage of the excellent start. A critical moment occurred in the 17th minute when Barnes had the chance to put Stirling Mortlock into a gap - the captain was charging in on an acute angle - or to throw wide to winger Drew Mitchell, who had no one in front of him.
An Australian try appeared certain, and with it a 14-point lead, but Barnes took the wrong option of going himself and was swamped before throwing a high pass to George Smith, which crashed into his head. The moment was lost. And moments like these win Test matches.
As Barnes said last night: "If I had my time again, I would have passed it."
Another bad moment for Australia came just before half-time when they were unable to sustain the pressure and - after finding themselves perched on the All Blacks' line - lost possession. Again another try-scoring opportunity was wasted.
Nonetheless, the Wallabies kept their composure for most of the first half and were deserving 13-10 leaders at the break after a fast, entertaining and dramatic session.
All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen admitted it took time for his side to adjust to the wet and windy weather.
"I think the slow start came down to the conditions," Hansen said. "We didn't really master the conditions that well and we allowed ourselves to be put under pressure at lineout time."
As expected, the breakdown tussle was intense, with Australia having the early ascendancy until All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, who was not sighted in the opening quarter, found his legs and broke the Wallabies defence in the 23rd minute, scoring from a precise pass from outside-centre Conrad Smith.
The South African referee, Craig Joubert, was - as expected - extremely jittery and appeared obsessed in keeping control by repeatedly penalising both sides.
For much of the the second half, Joubert continued to irritate both teams by finding fault with them and the the game degenerated into a penalty goal shoot-out between Giteau and Stephen Donald. At times the Wallabies had no idea why Joubert found fault with tight-head prop Al Baxter at scrum time. But they were also their own worst enemies, repeatedly losing possession in the All Blacks quarter.
NEW ZEALAND 22 (Richard McCaw try Stephen Donald con 5 pens)
AUSTRALIA 16 (Berrick Barnes try Matt Giteau con 3 pens)
