'Disgraceful decision': Referee Mathieu Raynal's time-wasting call costs Wallabies a Bledisloe Cup chance against All Blacks

Leading by three points with time running out, the Wallabies appeared to have thwarted the All Blacks' final charge in Melbourne.

Lalakai Foketi won a penalty as the Wallabies desperately defended their line, but referee Mathieu Raynal's decision moments later cost the Australia dearly.

The Wallabies did what every team does when time is running out - the tried to chew up precious seconds by taking it slow in taking their penalty kick.

They won the penalty with the game clock reading 78.24, and leading 37-34.

They celebrated like they had one game game, but Raynal stopped the clock called time off 33 seconds later.

Wallabies flyhalf Bernard Foley had ball in hand ready to kick as he spoke to his teammates. Some Wallabies were urging him to kick it out, then six seconds after restarting the clock Raynal blew an infringement against Foley for time wasting.

It gave the All Blacks the smallest of opportunities, and that's all they needed. They had a scrum five metres from the Wallabies' line and eventually Jordie Barrett scored out wide in the 81^st minute to steal victory in the cruellest of ways.

Foley argued with the referee, saying time was off and then adding: "I'm not wasting time, I was about to kick it."

Raynal then pulled stand-in captain Nic White aside and explained: "I said first we play, then I blew time off. I switched off the time. I said to your player I switched on the time and he waited, so that's a scrum for the All Blacks."

Wallabies great Tim Horan said: "That's a ridiculous call from the referee.

Horan expanded further on Channel Nine's coverage: "It was crazy. In all the years I've commentated over 20 years, I thought it was a disgraceful decision by the referee.

"I thought he cracked under pressure. I reckon you could have another 15 referees, big referees from World Rugby who would've taken that calmly. There were 90 seconds left in the game, he cracked under pressure.

"It was a disgraceful decision and World Rugby need to look at it."

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Channel Nine commentator Andrew Mehrtens added: "That's unique, I don't think I've seen it."

And dual international Allana Ferguson added: "Honestly, one of the worst calls from a ref I've seen took it away from them."

White had kicked a long-range penalty goal to edge the Wallabies ahead minutes earlier after trailing 31-13 early in the second half.

Captain James Slipper, who watched the second half from the bench after injuring his calf, tried his best to be diplomatic after the match.

"Absolutely gutted," Slipper said.

"I actually don't know what to say. We wanted to put in a performance there and we fell short.

"That's probably the most gutting way to finish a game in my opinion.

"It was hard to see from where I was on the bench. We were confident, I feel like we had the momentum in the last 20 minutes ... We blew it."

The result stretches Australia's Bledisloe Cup drought to a 20^th consecutive year.

The teams will go head to head again in Auckland next week, but the All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe Cup.

New Zealand captain Sam Cane described the match as carnage, with the Wallabies losing three players to the sin bin through the match and being forced to scramble just to stay in the contest.

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie said on Channel Nine: "I'm gutted for our men.

"We had a couple of yellow cards and found ourselves down 31-13, so to fightback and get ourselves in front took a lot of character. A disappointing way to lose it.

"I was just talking to Bernard and what we knew was that time was [off] and he told the boys to play. I don't know.

"It lacks a bit of feel for such an important moment in the game, so you would have thought kick it out and play out the last couple of minutes.

"It's a tough one to take."

There was plenty to like about the Wallabies with fullback Andrew Kellaway scoring two tries and denied another by a blade of grass.

Five-eighth Foley, playing his first Test in three years, was a stand-out as was flanker Pete Samu in his first start of the year, while No.8 Rob Valetini also stood up.

The teams were locked at 10-10 at halftime after a hectic half that saw the All Blacks lose three players, including skipper Sam Cane to injury, while the Wallabies were forced to play with 13 men after both Darcy Swain and Tom Wright were yellow-carded at the same time.

Swain was sent to the sidelines in the 36th minute for an ugly tackle on the leg of Quinn Tupaea, with the reserve back assisted from the field with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.

Wright was given his card for a professional foul trying to stop a break by All Blacks winger Caleb Clarke.

The home side got off to the worst possible start with a series of errors leaving them down 10-0 after 12 minutes, including a try by barnstorming hooker Samisoni Taukei'aho.

It looked like the Wallabies were on the scoreboard in the 20th minute but Kellaway missed grounding the ball by centimetres.

Valetini made no mistake five minutes later when the big No.8 barrelled over the line with Foley converting for a 10-10 scoreline.

New Zealand looked like they would run away with the match, taking advantage of another Wallabies yellow card with Richie Mo'unga and Will Jordan both crossing to push the lead out to 31-13.

But Kellaway scored twice and then Samu touched down in the 73rd minute, with Foley adding the extras to send the match into a thrilling finale.

- With AAP

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