All Blacks scrum-half Cam Roigard crosses for New Zealand’s fourth try

Credit : AP/Brett Phibbs

The greatest compliment you could pay the All Blacks for dissecting Australia was that their dominance and ruthlessness were Springbok-esque, comprehensively popping the Wallabies’ recent bubble under head coach Les Kiss.

Both teams came into this contest at the All Blacks’ Eden Park fortress having last played South Africa: Australia knocked off the world champions in Perth while New Zealand lost the Greatest Rivalry series 3-1 .

A telling feature of those matches was the Springboks’ aerial dominance, which Australia would have studied hard given the spring-heeled backs at their disposal.

All Black Josh Lord challenges Harry Wilson for the ball

Credit : Getty Images/Michael Bradley

Yet the All Blacks immediately put that hard-earned lesson into practice in Auckland where Cam Roigard, the scrum-half, put up a succession of high balls that the New Zealand backs, led by the excellent Jordie Barrett, retrieved…