All Blacks come from behind to beat Australia in Hong Kong
Captain McCaw got the winning try for the All Blacks
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Saturday, 01, Nov 2008 12:01
New Zealand came back from a half-time deficit to beat Australia 19-14 in the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong.
The All Blacks had already retained the trophy but were able to claim a 3-1 series win thanks to their victory on neutral soil.
Australia dominated the first half, with fly-half Matt Giteau in excellent form pulling the strings.
Winger Drew Mitchell scored two tries while the All Blacks could only respond with three penalties from the boot of Dan Carter.
Giteau created the first Australian try galloping up field before finding Mitchell with a blind pass for him to score under the posts.
Mitchell's second came when the ball came out of the side of a ruck. George Smith reacted well and was able to hand off to Mitchell for the score.
Carter was playing at inside centre with Stephen Donald being handed his debut in Carter's usual number ten shirt.
However, ten minutes into the second half coach Graham Henry decided to restore Carter to fly-half, with Ma'a Nonu coming to inside centre.
It paid instant dividends with Sitiveni Sivivatu finishing off a flowing move to level the scores at 14-14.
New Zealand were in the ascendency and took advantage of their momentum. Having got close to the line lock Ali Williams tried to bundle his way over from short range.
He was stopped short but the All Blacks were able to swing the ball along the back line and captain Richie McCaw dived over for the winning try.
Although there was 20 minutes left after McCaw's try New Zealand's defence was able to hold on for the win.