DITCH BATTLES
Phil Wilkins has been asked to rank his top five Australia v New Zealand matches in the countdown to the first 2008 Bledisloe Cup game, on July 26. Today, it's No.4: One-off Test, Sydney Football Stadium, August 17, 1994. Australia 20, New Zealand 16.
Whenever great rugby games are discussed in air-conditioned clubs and around log fires, Tim Clayton's immortal photograph of George Gregan dislodging the ball from Jeff Wilson's grasp in his cover- defence tackle at the Sydney Football Stadium will inevitably arise.
Just four minutes from the end of a brilliant, bone-rasping encounter, Australia led 20-16, but New Zealand winger Wilson had the silver glint of the Bledisloe Cup in his eye as he swerved past three defenders and headed for an apparently inevitable, match-winning try.
Then the smallest man on the field materialised, hurled himself at Wilson and jarred the ball free as the dual rugby-cricket international threw himself towards the corner flag.
Gregan did not consider it his finest tackle, but it was certainly his most publicised and, in a career of numerous decorations, it was his most visible, game-winning achievement.
A year earlier, at Carisbrook in Dunedin, New Zealand won the one-off Test 25-10, to regain the trophy.
It came at a prosperous time in Australian rugby, the Wallabies having won five of six Tests against New Zealand as well as the 1991 World Cup.
By 1994, with Phil Kearns as captain, match-winners Tim Horan and Michael Lynagh injured and with Matthew Burke, Rod McCall and Daniel Herbert out of favour, it was certainly a transitional period.
Australia stormed into attack from the kick-off, five-eighth David Knox, possessing a prodigious boot and the softest hands since Mark Ella, hoisting the ball high for centre Jason Little to seize the ball in mid-air and plunge over for the try - in just 17 seconds.
Knox converted the try after which flanker Willie Ofahengaue exchanged thunderous tackles with New Zealand No.8 Zinzan Brooke to remind all of the brutally punishing nature of Test rugby.
New Zealand have had few finer tight-head props than Olo Brown and few more devious loose-heads than Richard Loe, and after three attempts to disrupt Australia's scrum by seizing Ewen McKenzie's leg and striving to lift him off the ground, Loe was penalised by English referee Ed Morrison following a touch judge's report. Some things never change.
Knox hooked over a 40-metre penalty goal for Australia to lead 10-3, and after their forwards drove the ball deep into opposition territory, locks John Eales and Garrick Morgan enabled Kearns to barrel through for a 26th-minute try.
By half-time, Australia led 17-6, the torrid forward encounters taking toll, with Brooke leaving the field with blood cascading from a facial wound.
New Zealand's pack fought back furiously, and allied with fullback Shane Howarth's try and four goals, clawed their way into contention after 61 minutes to trail, 17-16.
The game was an enthralling spectacle, New Zealand launching attack after attack for the winning try, draining every drop of spirit from exhausted bodies, only to be frustrated in the end by the Littlest Big Man's tackle.
Skipper Kearns and front-row partners, McKenzie and Tony Daly, were crucial in the triumph, Kearns later named man of the match, but Eales was responsible for some brilliant middle of the lineout jumping with No.8 Tim Gavin to deny the All Blacks important possession.
Kearns said on receiving the Bledisloe Cup: "It's a fantastic feeling. The first 40 minutes were awesome, the second not so great, but we got this thing."
Australia 20 (J Little, P Kearns tries; D Knox 2 goals, 2 pens) beat New Zealand 16 (S Howarth try; Howarth goal, 3 pen goals). Crowd: 41,917.
AUSTRALIA: Matthew Pini, Damian Smith, Jason Little, Pat Howard, David Campese, David Knox, George Gregan; Tim Gavin, David Wilson, Willie Ofahengaue, Garrick Morgan, John Eales, Ewen McKenzie, Phil Kearns, Tony Daly.
NEW ZEALAND: Shane Howarth, Jeff Wilson, Frank Bunce, Walter Little, John Timu, Stephen Bachop, Graeme Bachop; Zinzan Brooke, Michael Jones, Mike Brewer, Ian Jones, Mark Cooksley, Olo Brown, Sean Fitzpatrick, Richard Loe.
