New Zealand beat Australia 27-16

Winger Ben Smith kept up his prolific try-scoring record in test matches this season, touching down twice as New Zealand took advantage of lax defence to beat Australia 27-16 in the Rugby Championship and retain the Bledisloe Cup on Saturday.

Smith scored three tries in the All Blacks’ 47-29 win over the Wallabies in Sydney last weekend in the competition’s opening game and has now scored seven tries in his last four test appearances.

Flyhalf Tom Taylor, who was plunged into test rugby when New Zealand lost three No. 10s to injury, kicked 14 points from a conversion and four penalties in a sound debut while fullback Israel Dagg also kicked a penalty.

Israel Folau scored a late intercept try for Australia, beating Dagg with a giant sidestep, while Christian Leali’ifano converted and added three penalties.

The Australians competed strongly in the first 25 minutes, securing a small majority of possession and placing the All Blacks under searching pressure. But they failed to take advantage of a handful of opportunities, were rebuffed by a solid New Zealand defence then conceded two tries to Smith in the last 13 minutes of the first half to trail 15-6 at halftime.

Though they made sporadic breaks, the Australians had no coherence and therefore offered no sustained threat from their attacking game. When they were most strongly on attack, pressing the New Zealand line, they found the All Blacks’ defence impenetrable.