The All Blacks rode a first-half try blitz to a 43-21 victory over the Wallabies at Stadium Australia on Saturday, extending their win streak over their trans-Tasman-Sea rivals to 13 matches. With the Bledisloe Cup already safely in the cupboard for a 24th year after last week's 50-19 win in Auckland, New Zealand exploded out of the blocks and crushed all thoughts of an upset with six tries before the break. Despite losing Jordie Barrett to a calf injury before kickoff and another centre in Quinn Tupaea early on with a concussion, the All Blacks overwhelmed the Wallabies with power, pace and precision in the opening 40 minutes. "I'm really proud of the boys, the way we came out on that in that first half," said New Zealand captain Codie Taylor. "It was a real challenge for us this week to make sure that we backed up a really good performance from last week, and I thought we were awesome in that first 40." Australia showed some flashes of backline brilliance, particularly in the second half, but struggled to get hold of the ball for prolonged periods and were unable to match the accuracy or clinical finishing of the All Blacks. In a whirlwind of offloads,...
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