Australia beat France to win series, Reece stars as All Blacks thump Fiji

The All Blacks, who needed to step up ater an unconvincing performance for much of the first Test last week, were clinging to a 7-6 lead ater 30 minutes but by the final whistle had outscored Fiji by nine tries to one

BRISBANE

A 14-man Australia edged France 33-30 to win a thrilling third rugby Test and take the series 2-1 in Brisbane on Saturday.

With the scores locked at 30-30 in the closing stages of an evenly fought Test, Australian flyhalf Noah Lolesio kicked a crucial penalty to put the Wallabies ahead with two minutes remaining.

The win came against the odds after the Wallabies lost winger Marika Koroibete to a controversial red card following a high tackle on French captain Anthony Jelonch in the fifth minute.

Koroibete charged through at the restart and smashed Jelonch with a big tackle, but after watching a number of replays referee Ben O’Keeffe agreed with the television match official that the Australian winger’s shoulder had made contact with Jelonche’s head and he was shown the red card.

The two sides could barely be separated over the series, both scoring 49 points apiece heading into the decider.