Publications
Partners
Tokyo - The All Blacks and the Wallabies headed to Britain on a positive note Sunday after New Zealand completed a Bledisloe Cup clean sweep with their fourth win over their rivals this season.
A near-capacity crowd of 44,500 spectators at Tokyo's National Stadium watched New Zealand battle back from a 13-16 half-time deficit to take the match 32-19, stretching their trans-Tasman winning streak to seven Tests.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry said the win gave his side a lot of momentum going into their European tour but said there was room for improvement.
"I think we probably played at about 70 percent capacity, which means we've got a lot to work on," Henry said.
"I think it was marvellous for the game here and I'm sure it will help the development of rugby in Japan leading into the World Cup in 2019," he added.
Asian rugby powerhouse Japan will play host to that tournament.
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said both teams were positive and wanted to play rugby and was "pretty physical."
The All Blacks play Wales on November 7 before taking on Italy, England, France and the Barbarians on their end-of-year tour.
The Wallabies start their tour of Britain and Ireland with a midweek fixture against Gloucester on Tuesday, followed by a weekend Test against England.
The Tokyo clash was only the second time that an New Zealand-Australia Test has been played on neutral ground after last year's Hong Kong clash as the two southern hemisphere giants seek to tap the growing Asian rugby market.
Under-fire Wallabies coach Robbie Deans saw improvements in his teams's performance following their heavy 33-6 defeat in their last Bledisloe Cup Test clash in Wellington in September.
The Wallabies here made a "better effort in terms of intensity and physicality. We were better around the breakdown," he said.
Australia finally ended their try-scoring drought against New Zealand through Peter Hynes -- 270 minutes after Berrick Barnes crossed the line in the year's opening trans-Tasman Test in July.
"We're back playing rugby, which we hadn't done for much of this weekend plus two months," said Deans, who took charge last year and led the Wallabies to five losses and one win in the 2009 Tri-Nations series, over South Africa.
"So it's a good launching pad now for us to push on to the UK," he added.
But hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau joined their injured list which also includes former skipper Stirling Mortlock, vice captain Barnes and Rob Horne.
New Wallabies captain and flanker Rocky Elsom said: "For us, this was the end of our domestic season and for a lot of reasons we had a score to settle there, but it didn't happen obviously."
"Fortunately for us, we've got England to think about and they'll be looking at us as the southern hemisphere team that they'll be most likely to beat."
The Japanese organisers and fans were delighted with the game.
"We could demonstrate rugby's potential popularity in Japan," Japanese Rugby Football Union president Yoshiro Mori said. "It's given us confidence to host the World Cup."
