All Blacks coach responds to 'bittersweet' question

All Blacks coach Scott Robertson was asked whether drinking from the Bledisloe Cup would taste "bittersweet" after almost letting a 21-0 lead slip against the Wallabies on Saturday.

The answer was a resounding no.

Robertson, in his first year in the pressure-packed job, had several cracks at getting his mitts on the massive vessel during his 27 Test career as a loose forward between 1998-2002.

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It was an era in which Australia reigned supreme and he never had the pleasure of supping from the cup.

"Bittersweet? Mate, we've got the cup," Robertson replied after the 31-28 win to extend New Zealand's grip into a 23rd year.

"We found a way. Look, I'm really pleased. The last three Test matches have come to a pass, a ref call, a moment's decision making. So that's Test footy.

"We're learning quick, we're getting a group experienced to win these tight games, get a bit of callus. So it'll taste sweet, thank you."

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A fair response to a fair question given the All Blacks again produced far too much sloppy stuff for their own high standards.

The Kiwis blew multiple chances to put the Wallabies away and only scored three second half points which eventually proved decisive.

"I'm an optimist, but I'm a realist, too," Robertson said.

"We'll show the clips where we need to be better, I'll be clear on that.

"We have to go and perform in front of our people in Wellington, a sold out Bledisloe II. The cup will be sideline, but we need to perform, that's probably the key thing isn't it.

"We'll get excited again about playing some good footy and finishing some good tries."

The All Blacks faltered badly in the second half, only just holding on with 13 men at one point.

By halftime, the All Blacks were ahead 28-14 and early in the second half 31-14 as they ran in four tries in front of a crowd of 68,000.

But the Wallabies rallied with tries to Hunter Paisami and Tom Wright to also score four tries and cut the lead to three points as the All Blacks failed again to build on a first half lead.

The teams will meet again in Wellington next Saturday.

New Zealand hasn't scored a point in the final quarter of all five of their matches in the Rugby Championship this season.

They lost twice to the world champion Springboks after leading at the start of the fourth quarter.

With Anton Lienert-Brown and Caleb Clarke dispatched to the sin bin in the 65th and 72nd minutes and their lead slashed to three points, the All Blacks were only just able to deny the Wallabies a morale-building win.

Two breakdown turnovers near the goal line in the dying moments and a further turnover from the last kickoff were just enough to save the game.

Australia's confidence would have been low when Will Jordan scored for the All Blacks after only two minutes, then Rieko Ioane and Clarke scored to make it 21-0.

But they fought back with tries to Fraser McReight and Matt Faessler while the All Blacks scored through Ardie Savea to make the lead 28-14 at halftime.

The All Blacks had been dominant with Cortez Ratima providing speedy ball from scrumhalf and Damian McKenzie and Jordan running onto the ball from depth.

Wallace Sititi and Tupou Vaa'i were outstanding among the New Zealand forwards.

The Wallabies were coming off a 67-27 loss to Argentina which was their heaviest-ever in terms of points conceded and the All Blacks' lightning start might have been their worst nightmare.

But the game began to tighten in the second half as New Zealand's discipline lapsed and they were unable to keep the ball from Australia as they had down in first spell.

With faster breakdown possession, the Wallabies were a much different team.

"It's probably a bit of a relief to be honest," All Blacks captain Scott Barrett said.

"In the last 15 minutes we found ourself in a bit of a hole but with a bit of scrambled defence we managed to hold on.

"It's the nature of the Aussies that they don't line and they showed how desperate they were to get a hold on the cup and I'm proud of the boys to hold on."

Jordan was named to start on the right wing but moved back to fullback when Beauden Barrett, named at fullback, withdrew with illness.

The All Blacks forced a lineout from the kickoff, held possession through several phases and Vaa'i flicked the ball up to Jordan who cut through the Australian defence to score under the posts.

Six minutes later Ratima broke from scrumhalf and linked with Ioane who scored.

Then, after winning a turnover, Clarke finished after being given space by Sititi and Jordie Barrett.

New Zealand led 21-0 after 15 minutes.

The Wallabies hit back in the 18th minute with McReight's try.

From an over-thrown lineout, Rob Valetini passed inside to Nic White who fed McReight with no defender ahead of him.

Sevu Reece picked up a wayward pass from Hunter Paisami in the 25th minute and passed to Savea, who scored.

Faessler scored his first Test try for Australia in the 36th minute when the All Blacks conceded a penalty which the Wallabies kicked to touch.

When the drive stalled, Faessler detached and slipped inside Sam Cane's tackle.

The All Blacks had two more chances to score before halftime, when McKenzie broke the defence but couldn't link with his support and when Jordie Barrett seemed to score in the right-hand corner but was called back for a knock-on.

The All Blacks lost Jordie Barrett at halftime to a knee injury but stayed in control.

McKenzie increased their lead with a penalty and Savea was over the goal line but held up.

New Zealand seemed to have gone almost 90m to score through Ratima in the 57th minute but were again called back, this time for a forward pass.

Savea had a second try disallowed and Australia also had a late and critical try scrubbed for a knock-on.

In the midst of the drama James Slipper took the field for his 140th Test, to surpass George Gregan's Australian record of 139 appearances.