As they faced into a third test with Australia this morning, the series had already been decided and the Bledisloe Cup was secure in New Zealand.
However, as fans of Irish rugby are all too aware, there are no inconsequential games where New Zealand are concerned and Australia were determined to avoid a clean sweep of defeats in Brisbane.
With two minutes remaining and the hosts two points to the good, Australia's Reece Hodge landed a monster penalty kick that would ultimately put the test beyond the All-Blacks.
Needless to say, the reaction in Australia has been pretty positive:
You. Bloody. Ripper. Cheers to the boot of Reece Hodge. #wallabies #BledisloeCup
— Sylvia Jeffreys (@SylviaJeffreys) October 21, 2017
Reece Hodge should take every kick. #wallabies
— Renard Peters (@renvpeters) October 21, 2017
It was Hodge who got the scoring underway after only 7 minutes with this well timed interception and lengthy run from deep in the Australian half.
Israel Folau was also in typically devastating form as he finished off this excellent build up play from Australia just before the 40 minute mark.
In what was a tightly-contested game between two sides that gave no impression of this being a dead-rubber, they were never more than a converted try away from one another throughout.
With their southern hemisphere commitments sorted for now, both sides will now take to Europe - Australia taking on Wales in mid-November with the All Blacks taking on the Barbarians in London.
