Scrumhalf Nic White came off the bench to score 10 points in the last 11 minutes and give Australia a 27-19 victory over New Zealand and a first Rugby Championship title yesterday.
White’s penalty and converted try settled a lively contest in which the lead see-sawed back and forth all evening and gave the Wallabies their first victory over the world champions since 2011.
That was also the year they last won the southern hemisphere championship in the final year of the Tri-Nations.
Sekope Kepu and Adam Ashley-Cooper also crossed for the Australians, who will win back the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2002 if they can beat the All Blacks in Auckland next weekend.
New Zealand winger Nehe Milner-Skudder scored two tries on debut and flyhalf Dan Carter kicked three penalties but it was not enough to prevent the All Blacks falling to only a third defeat since winning the World Cup in 2011.
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw suffered only his 15th defeat in the black shirt as he made his 141st appearance for his country, matching Irishman Brian O’Driscoll’s record tally.
An uncharacteristic All Blacks spill from the kick-off and a good shove in the first scrum gave Australia early hope that it might be their night but they were soon defending their line after a burst from Milner-Skudder.
Kepu was sin-binned for killing the ball under his own posts and Carter slotted the ensuing penalty to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.
David Pocock and Michael Hooper got the turnovers Australia coach Michael Cheika wanted from his experimental back row but poor handling and a shocking display of passing from scrumhalf Nick Phipps meant they were unable to exploit them.
Matt Giteau did put them on level terms with his first penalty but Carter restored New Zealand’s lead from the tee.
Both sides would have been unhappy with their first half performances but the smiles were on the Australian faces in the crowd of 73,824 in Sydney four minutes after the break.
A high tackle on winger Adam Ashley-Cooper saw Aaron Smith yellow carded and Australia kicked for touch with the resultant penalty before driving to the New Zealand line.
When the rolling maul collapsed, Kepu took the ball at pace and crashed through the defence for a converted try which put the Wallabies 10-6 up.
Carter reduced the deficit with his third penalty before Phipps’s evening went from bad to worse when he was shown a yellow card for dissent in the 54th minute.
The All Blacks were back in front a minute later.
Full-back Ben Smith somehow managed to get the ball away through a crowd of gold shirts to leave Milner-Skudder with a clear run to the line for a try on his debut.
Carter missed the conversion and five minutes later Australia hit back when Matt Toomua’s perfectly judged crosskick allowed Ashley-Cooper to touch down in the corner.
Giteau converted to give Australia a 17-14 lead but it lasted just three minutes before Milner-Skudder grabbed his second try, barging over the line through three tacklers and getting the ball down at the second attempt.
White put Australia a point ahead at 20-19 with a penalty after 69 minutes but better was to come from the replacement halfback and he cut through the visiting defence from close range three minutes later.