Returning All Black pivot Dan Carter, kicked a match-winning 78th minute penalty as the All Blacks got their Tri-Nations campaign back on track with a hard-fought 19-18 victory over the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday.

It was a thriller. Just one try, but a thriller which says something about rugby football. It's about adventure and skill. It's also about courage, and both these sides were courageous.

Of course the try is the crowning point of a rugby match and the side which scored the only try deserves to win. The All Blacks deserved to win. Twice they were over the line and twice had the try nullified by a prior offence. They were the side, at least in the second half, that played the better rugby.

There was lots of running. There were also many handling errors. There was also a lot of kicking, much of it meaningless. The All Blacks kicked best when Stephen Donald kicked and then Dan Carter kicked the kick that set up the winning kick.

The All Blacks were hampered in the second half with the departure of Berrick Barnes whose right boot provided the alternative to the left foot of Matt Giteau. A lot of the Wallaby kicking failed to put pressure on the All Blacks. That said a vague moment by Joe Rokocoko in the second half gave the ball to Peter Hynes and the Wallabies could well have scored. But even in that case it was more Rokocoko's bewilderment than the class of Like Burgess's kick that created the opportunity.

In that second half the All Blacks dominated possession and territory and ran the ball into positions where they could it back quickly. That the ball became quicker and quicker as the match went on was probably thanks to a referee who early on made it clear that slowing down the ball would earn penalties.

Much has been spoken of Wallaby discipline and again it was not great. Rocky Elsom was penalised twice for air tackles and Richard Browne once for a tip tackle which earned him a yellow card. The penalty count for the match was 11-all, but in that crucial second half the All Blacks won the count 6-2.

Line-outs went with throw except for the one which the All Blacks lost, but the All Blacks out the ball into 16 line-outs to the 10 of Australia. The All Blacks got slightly the better of the scrums till Al Baxter was substituted after 31 minutes.

But the match was worth much more than its statistics as the players went at it hammer and tongs. The Wallabies won the first half 12-3. The All Blacks won the second half 16-6. For the second time in this year's Tri-Nations/Bledisloe Cup New Zealand have won the second half and therefore the match. The outcome means that they retain the Bledisloe Cup and the possibility of winning the 2009 Tri-Nations.

For the Wallabies it is their third defeat, leaving them with just two bonus points. They are the first team to lose at home and may have lost others to injury. In Cape Town they lost Stirling Mortlock and it may be possible that they have now lost Barnes and James O'Connor who were replaced.

At the start of the match the anthems were sung, New Zealand's first. The flags of the two nations were there. They look so similar. Australia have one more star but New Zealand scored one more point. With Piri Weepu absent, captain Richie McCaw led the haka.

After Elsom's air tackle on McCaw at the kick-off, the All Blacks put pressure on the Wallabies and a penalty against Giteau for being offside at a knock-on gave Carter his first kick at goal. The returning genius goaled - and went on to have the better match of the two great flyhalves. 3-0 after 3 minutes.

The lead was short-lived. When Jerome Kaino gave away his first penalty at a tackle Giteau made it 3-0 after 6 minutes and then when he gave away his second penalty, Giteau made it 6-3 to the Wallabies after 10 minutes.

New Zealand had the earliest chance to score when they ran and ran till McAlister kicked into the Wallabies' in-goal where Giteau saved.

McCaw was penalised at a tackle and Brad Thorn showed dissent which brought Giteau into range and again he goaled. 9-3 after 32 minutes.

Australia attacked with a sharp break by Barnes and a continuing rumble by Nathan Sharpe who was brought down close to the line by Jimmy Cowan. But Cowan was penalised and Giteau made the half-time score 12-3.

That looked a winning score. The activities of the second half proved otherwise.

The second half started with Ryan Cross on for Barnes and Ma'a Nonu on for Conrad Smith. Early in the half Browne was penalised for a tip tackle and sent to the sin bin but Carter missed the penalty. While Browne was away the score was 3-all.

After a burst by Sitiveni Sivivatu, the most dangerous back on the field, Cowan was close. The referee went back to the tackle penalty against James Horwill. 12-6 after 42 minutes. Five minutes later Nonu was penalised for holding on in a tackle and Giteau made it 15-6 to Australia. That score was against the run of play as the All Blacks had a glut of possession and territory.

The All Blacks went onto pick-'n-drive and then went left where Carter put Sivivatu over in the left corner but Carter's pass was ruled forward. That gave the Wallabies a scrum five metres from their line but the All Blacks made life difficult and won a five-metre scrum. This time Cowan was over but as he went over the referee detected obstruction by Kaino on Sharpe and Benn Robinson.

Stephen Moore had problems with a bleeding nose in the match and his replacement and Tatafu Polota-Nau went fairly obviously offside and Carter made it 15-9 after 58 minutes.

Donald hoisted high and caused confusion amongst the Wallabies enabling Rokocoko to put a run in. Then Burgess kicked and it was Rokocoko who was negligent. Hynes was up to grab the ball and race away but in kicking ahead he put the ball into touch and the Wallabies' best chance of a try went begging.

Instead the All Blacks scored. Giteau kicked another of his low kicks, much too low this time and the ball rebounded off Owen Franks. Drew Mitchell got the ball but the All Blacks won a turnover through Andrew Hore and went left. McCaw got a clever pass to Nonu who ran an angle that drew two Wallabies before he gave to Kieran Read who pounded down the left and gave to Sivivatu and what happened next made the try. Sivivatu burst through the tackles of Lachie Turner and Giteau, drew two desperate defender onto him before giving to Nonu who had come looping round on his left and Nonu was over far out. From far out on his left Carter converted. 16-15 with 16 minutes to play.

Rodney So'oialo was penalised at a tackle and again Giteau goaled. 18-16 to the wallabies with 13 minutes to play.

They were urgent minutes.

The All Blacks went non pick-'n-drive again and worked a good position for a Carter drop, but the kick was ridiculous - too low and too wide. Then Carter put a diagonal kick towards the touch-line on his left, down in the corner. Chasing Donald caught Mitchell and Isaac Ross caught Turner who was penalised for holding on.

From about seven metres in from touch, Carter goaled. 19-18 with two minutes left.

The Australians won the kickoff but turned the ball over. The All Blacks went on a time-absorbing pick-'n-drive but McCaw lost the ball and the Wallabies went on frantic attack getting close to the New Zealand line till Alexander knocked on and the All Blacks were victorious.

Man of the Match: Hard because it was a match of team efforts, a match without stars and yet for his willingness to create and two great kicks our Man of the Match is Dan Carter.

Moment of the Match: Nonu's try.

Villain of the Match: Richard Browne for a dangerous, undisciplined tackle.

The Scorers:

For Australia:
Pens: Giteau 6

For New Zealand
Tries: Nonu
Cons: Carter
Pens: Carter 4

Australia: 15 James O'Connor, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 George Smith (captain), 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Will Genia, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 Peter Hynes.

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Josevata Rokocoko, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Rodney So'oialo, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Ma'a Nonu.