New Zealand were 31-14 up during the second half until an Australian comeback; Watch Argentina vs South Africa in the Rugby Championship live on Sky Sports+ on Saturday from 10pm

New Zealand’s Will Jordan, is congratulated by teammate Cortez Ratima after scoring a try against Australia

New Zealand scored four tries in the first 25 minutes and held off a second-half Australia fightback with 13 men to beat the Wallabies 31-28 in a Rugby Championship thriller.

The All Blacks led 21-0 after 15 minutes but faltered badly in the second half, only just holding on in the closing minutes to win the first Bledisloe Cup Test on Saturday.

New Zealand were ahead 28-14 at the break and extended their advantage to 17 points early in the second half, only for Australia to rally with tries from Hunter Paisami and Tom Wright to cut the lead to three points.

The All Blacks failed again to build on a first-half lead and now haven’t scored a point in the final quarter of all four Rugby Championship matches this season, although clung on to deny the Wallabies a morale-boosting win.

Scott Barrett accidently hit Pasilo Tosi on the head as New Zealand lifted the Bledisloe Cup

All Blacks edge thriller with Australia

Australia’s were coming off a 67-27 loss to Argentina – their heaviest-ever in terms of points conceded – and All Blacks’ lightning start might have been their worst nightmare. Will Jordan went over first for New Zealand after only two minutes, then Rieko Ioane and Caleb Clarke scored to make it 21-0.

The hosts battled back with tries from Fraser McReight and Matt Faessler, either side of Ardie Savea adding a try for the All Blacks to secure them the bonus point and give them a 14-point lead at the break.

Ardie Savea scored one of New Zealand’s four first-half tries

New Zealand had been dominant with Cortez Ratima providing speedy ball from scrum-half and Damian McKenzie and Jordan running onto the ball from depth, but the game tightened in the second half as the visitors’ discipline lapsed and they were unable to keep the ball from Australia.

McKenzie increased their lead with a penalty and Savea was over the tryline but held up, while New Zealand seemed to have gone almost 90 meters to score through Ratima in the 57th but were again called back, this time for a forward pass.

The home side had plenty of possession but were unable to convert it into points until Paisami barged over from close range in the 65th minute, bringing the crowd of 68,061 to full voice.

Anton Lienert-Brown was shown a yellow card for an infringement in the lead up to the try and Clarke followed him to the sin bin six minutes later for a deliberate knock-on to leave the All Blacks two men down.

Wallabies centre Len Ikitau had a try scratched off for a knock-on in the 73rd minute before full-back Tom Wright finally went over for Australia’s fourth try a minute from time to cut the deficit to three points. Australia poured forward looking for a winning score but the New Zealand defence, 14-handed again, held firm to secure victory.

“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 lie down and they showed how desperate they were to get a hold on the cup and I’m proud of the boys to hold on.”

What’s next?

New Zealand can no longer win the Rugby Championship but will look to finish their campaign Australia again on Saturday Setepmber 28 in Wellington (8.05am kick-off), with South Africa hosting Argentina later that day (4pm) and both matches live on Sky Sports. Stream rugby union and more with NOW.

Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.

Phoebe Litchfield has blasted her highest Twenty20 international score to steer Australia to a five-wicket victory against New Zealand in the series opener in Mackay.

The talented left-hander crafted an unbeaten 64 from 43 balls, saving Australia from trouble when she arrived at the crease with the hosts reeling at 3-44.

Litchfield, 21, batted flawlessly for the second T20I half-century of her career to help inflict New Zealand with a record-equalling eighth straight defeat in the game’s shortest international format.

Australia went past the White Ferns’ 7-143 with eight balls to spare to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

It was not a perfect night for Australia, however, with the home side losing star allrounder Ash Gardner to a bizarre injury in the warm-up.

The reigning Belinda Clark award winner was ruled out of Thursday night’s match after colliding with teammate Georgia Wareham when throwing around a vortex.

Gardner copped a hit to the jaw during the warm-up game and was placed in concussion protocols given she has a history of head knocks.

Fellow allrounder Heather Graham received the late call-up to replace Gardner, with Australia coach Shelley Nitschke calling the incident “hectic”.

“We walked out and there’s something happening in warm-up and and then Ash was on the ground, and unfortunately she was ruled out of the game,” Nitschke told the Seven Network.

“She’s good. It’s just a precaution.

“She’s in concussion protocols at the moment and given we’ve got a fair bit of cricket ahead of us we ruled her out of the game.

“She’s had a test and she passed, but you’ve got to stay in those protocols for a certain amount of time.”

New Zealand also suffered a blow of its own with captain Sophie Devine unavailable due to an ankle injury.

Suzie Bates was named skipper in Devine’s absence.

The White Ferns struggled to get going after electing to bat first, as number five Maddy Green top-scored with 35.

All six of Australia’s bowlers — Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Heather Graham, Megan Schutt and Tayla Vlaeminck — took a wicket each.

Meanwhile, powerful Australian batter Grace Harris has been ruled out of the series after straining her right calf at training this week.

Australia expects her to be fit and available for next month’s T20 World Cup in the UAE.

AAP