New Zealand complete double over Australia

Ben Smith leads the line again for All Blacks to retain Bledisloe Cup.

Ben Smith of New Zealand is tackled by James O'Connor of Australia.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand // 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.

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.

Fly half 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 intercepted 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 defense 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.

The All Blacks, in contrast, were again able to turn even half-chances from Wallabies' turnovers into tries and to walk through gaping holes in Australia's defence.

"For the first 30 minutes, we were under the pump," All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said. "We were just beaten to the punch in the contact areas.

"But when we got our opportunities, because momentum does change, we managed to capitalise on it and that's the way you've got to do it in rugby these days. I thought we took good options tonight, our kicking was good and we took our chances."

The All Blacks overpowered the Wallabies at scrums, showing their mastery of new rules of engagement being applied for the first time this season. They were led in that respect by loosehead prop Tony Woodcock, who became the fourth New Zealander to play 100 tests.

New Zealand's victory, following their win in Sydney last week, ensured they win this season's three-match series for the Bledisloe Cup, extending to 11 years their hold on a trophy which is played for annually between the All Blacks and Wallabies. The All Blacks remain unbeaten against Australia at home since 2003 and have won all but three of their last 19 test meetings.

"I said last week we'd only done half the job and to win again this week means we've got the Bledisloe Cup in the cupboard for another year," All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said.

"We knew that Australia would come at us and in the first 20 minutes a lot of the moments were going to belong to them if we didn't turn up mentally. We got away to a slow start and they probably owned it a bit. But what I did like was that we absorbed it and came back and started to win our own moments."

"You've just got to take your hat off to New Zealand, they're a very clinical side and they make the most of their possession," Wallabies captain James Horwill said.

"They're very good and unfortunately now we have another year without the Bledisloe Cup, which is very disappointing."