Get all the important numbers that matter provided by Opta for the 2022 Bledisloe Cup match between the Wallabies and All Blacks in Melbourne on Thursday.
● New Zealand have won 16 of their past 20 Test matches against Australia (D1 L3), including their last three on the bounce; their 16 wins in that time have come by an average margin of 24 points per game.
● Australia have won three of their past six Test matches against New Zealand on home turf, which is more than they had won in their 13 home Tests against the All Blacks previously (W2 D2 L9); though, they’ll be out to avoid back-to-back defeats in such fixtures for the first time since August 2017.
● Australia have won the opening game of the Bledisloe Cup only twice in the past 13 years, however, they’ve picked up a win and a draw across the last three years in such fixtures, including a 47-26 win when they last hosted the opening game of the Cup.
● Australia have lost three of their past four men’s Test matches played in Australia (W1) after losing only two of their previous 12 home Tests (W8 D2); in fact, they’ve also lost three of their past four Tests in Melbourne after having won 10 of their previous 11 in the Victorian capital.
● New Zealand have lost four of their seven men’s Tests thus far in 2022; the last time they lost more in a calendar year was in 1998 when they lost five, while the only other occurrence of the All Blacks losing more than four times in a calendar year came in 1949 (six losses).
● Australia have an 88% goal-kicking success rate in the Rugby Championship this year, the highest of any team in the tournament and nine percentage points higher than New Zealand (79%).
● New Zealand have made 42 carries in which they’ve attracted three or more tacklers in the 2022 edition of the Rugby Championship, the most of any team in the competition and 15 more than next-best Australia (27).
● New Zealand have crossed the gainline on 60% of their carries in the 2022 edition of the Rugby Championship, the highest percentage of any team in the tournament and eight percentage points higher than Australia (52%).
● James Slipper (Australia) has conceded 11 penalties so far in the 2022 edition of the Rugby Championship, four more than any other player in the competition.
● Rieko Ioane (New Zealand) has been directly involved in 13 tries in his 12 career Tests against Australia, scoring nine tries and making four try assists during that period.
Photo: Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images
