All Blacks hold on with 13 men to beat Wallabies 31-28 and retain Bledisloe Cup

SYDNEY (AP) — The All Blacks led 21-0 after 15 minutes but faltered badly in the second half, only just holding on with 13 men at one point to beat Australia 31-28 in the first Bledisloe Cup test on Saturday.

By halftime, the All Blacks were ahead 28-14 and early in the second half 31-14 as they ran in four tries in front of a crowd of 68,000. But the Wallabies rallied with tries to Hunter Paisami and Tom Wright to also score four tries and cut the lead to three points as the All Blacks failed again to build on a first-half lead.

The teams will meet again in Wellington next weekend but the All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe Cup for the 22nd season by taking the first match of the two-test series.

New Zealand hasn't scored a point in the final quarter of all four of their matches in the Rugby Championship this season, of which the Bledisloe Cup is a part. They lost twice to the world champion Springboks after leading at the start of the fourth quarter.

With Anton Lienert-Brown and Caleb Clarke dispatched to the sin-bin in the 65th and 72nd minutes and their lead slashed to three points the All Blacks were only just able to deny the Wallabies a morale-building win.

Two breakdown turnovers near the goalline in the dying moments and a further turnover from the last kickoff were just enough to save the game.

Australia's confidence would have been low when Will Jordan scored for the All Blacks after only two minutes, then Rieko Ioane and Clarke scored to make it 21-0. But they fought back with tries to Fraser McReight and Matt Faessler while the All Blacks scored through Ardie Savea to make the lead 28-14 at halftime.

The All Blacks had been dominant with Cortez Ratima providing speedy ball from scrumhalf and Damian McKenzie and Jordan running onto the ball from depth. Wallace Sititi and Tupou Vaa'i were outstanding among the New Zealand forwards.

The Wallabies were coming off a 67-27 loss to Argentina which was their heaviest-ever in terms of points conceded and the All Blacks' lightning start might have been their worst nightmare.

But the game began to tighten in the second half as New Zealand's discipline lapsed and they were unable to keep the ball from Australia as they had down in first spell. With faster breakdown possession, the Wallabies were a much different team.

“It's probably a bit of a relief to be honest,” All Blacks captain Scott Barrett said. "In the last 15 minutes we found ourself in a bit of a hole but with a bit of scrambled defense we managed to hold on.

“It's the nature of the Aussies that they don't line and they showed how desperate they were to get a hold on the Cup and I'm proud of the boys to hold on.”

Jordan was named to start on the right wing but moved back to fullback when Beauden Barrett, named at fullback, withdrew with a late injury.

The All Blacks forced a lineout from the kickoff, held possession through several phases and Tupou Vaa'i flicked the ball up to Jordan who cut through the Australian defense to score under the posts.

Six minutes later Ratima broke from scrumhalf and linked with Ioane who scored. Then, after winning a turnover, Clarke finished after being given space by Sititi and Jordie Barrett. New Zealand led 21-0 after 15 minutes.

The Wallabies hit back in the 18th minute with McReight's try. From an over-thrown lineout, Rob Valetini passed inside to Nick White who fed McReight with no defender ahead of him.

Sevu Reece picked up a wayward pass from Hunter Paisami in the 25th minute and passed to Savea, who scored.

Faessler scored his first test try for Australia in the 36th minute when the All Blacks conceded a penalty which the Wallabies kicked to touch. When the drive stalled, Faessler detached and slipped inside Sam Cane's tackle.

The All Blacks had two more chances to score before halftime, when McKenzie broke the defense but couldn't link with his support and when Jordie Barrett seemed to score in the right-hand corner but was called back for a knock-on.

The All Blacks lost Jordie Barrett at halftime to a knee injury but stayed in control. McKenzie increased their lead with a penalty and Savea was over the goal line but held up.

New Zealand seemed to have gone almost 90 meters to score through Ratima in the 57th but were again called back, this time for a forward pass.

Savea had a second try disallowed and Australia also had a late and critical try scrubbed for a knock-on. In the midst of the drama James Slipper took the field for his 140th test, to surpass George Gregan's Australian record of 139 test appearances.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

New Zealand's Ardie Savea, left, is tackled by Australia's Nic White during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Ardie Savea, left, is tackled by Australia's Nic White during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Sevu Reece, left, is tackled by Australia's Noah Lolesio during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australia's Noah Lolesio, right, is unable to handle the kick to start the game against New Zealand during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australia's Noah Lolesio, center, looks make break against New Zealand during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Anton Lienert-Brown, right, is given a yellow card by Karl Dickson during their rugby union test match against Australia in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Damian McKenzie, left, is tackled by Australia's Nick Frost during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Caleb Clarke, bottom, scores a try as Australia's Angus Bell, left, and Tom Wright are unable to stop him during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australia's head coach Joe Schmidt watches his team warm up before playing New Zealand in their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's head coach Scott Robertson watches his team warm up before playing Australia in their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Rieko Ioane, Right, scores a try against Australia during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australia captain Harry Wilson, left, and New Zealand skipper Scott Barrett, right, pose with the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, ahead of their rugby union test match Saturday. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Will Jordan, center, races past Australia's Nic White, left, and Tom Wright to score a try during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Will Jordan rolls after scoring a try against Australia during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's Ardie Savea scores try against Australia during their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

New Zealand's TJ Perenara, center, leads the haka before playing Australia in their rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A New Zealand pilot held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region of Indonesia was freed Saturday by separatist rebels.

Phillip Mark Mehrtens, a 38-year-old pilot from Christchurch, was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air when he was abducted by rebels from a remote airport on Feb. 7, 2023.

“Today I finally got out. I am so happy to be back home with my family soon,” Mehrtens told reporters in a news conference in the mining town of Timika. “Thank you to everyone who helped me get out safety and healthy.”

Television news earlier showed an emaciated, long-haired Mehrtens, wearing a dark-green shirt and black shorts, sitting in a room surrounded by police officers and local officials. He sobbed while talking to his family via video and an officer tried to calm him down by patting his back. He was later flown to Jakarta to be reunited with his family.

Rebels have used violence to try to achieve independence as the security situation deteriorates in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 under a United Nations-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered. The conflict spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.

Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, initially said the rebels would not release Mehrtens unless Indonesia’s government allows Papua to become a sovereign country.

Then on Tuesday, leaders of the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement known as TPNPB, issued a proposal for freeing Mehrtens that outlined terms including news media involvement in his release.

A taskforce spokesperson, Bayu Suseno, said that Mehrtens’ release was the result of hard work from a small task force team that had been communicating with the separatists led by Kogoya through the local church and community leaders as well as youth figures.

“This is incredibly good news,” said Suseno. “Effort to free the pilot by soft approach resulted in a hostage release without any casualties both from security forces, civilians or the pilot himself.”

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that a wide range of government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities and others to secure the release for the past 19 1/2 months. Officials were also supporting Mehrtens’ family, Peters said.

Many news outlets showed “cooperation and restraint” in reporting the story, he added. “The case has taken a toll on the Mehrtens family, who have asked for privacy,” Peters said.

New Zealand news outlets reported during Mehrtens’ captivity that he was one of a number of expatriate pilots employed by Susi Air and in recent years lived in Bali with his family.

Peters had not spoken to Mehrtens since his release. The news was “one of the better stories I’ve had” in his 45 years as a lawmaker, the three-time foreign minister added.

He declined to give details about how the pilot was freed. It was a “tricky” environment and building trust had been the most difficult aspect, Peters said.

“It was quite nerve-wracking, holding our nerve and not getting too carried away, not doing anything that might imperil the chances,” he said. “Because there was always a concern of ours that we might not succeed.”

Indonesia President Joko Widodo congratulated the military and police for prioritizing persuasion and safety.

“This was through a very long negotiation process and our patience not to do it repressively," Widodo said.

In April 2023, armed separatists attacked Indonesian troops who were deployed to rescue Mehrtens, killing at least six soldiers.

In August, gunmen stormed a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, after it landed in Alama, a remote village in the Mimika district of Central Papua province. No one has claimed responsibility for that attack, and the rebels and Indonesian authorities have blamed each other.

In 1996, the Free Papua Movement abducted 26 members of a World Wildlife Fund research mission in Mapenduma. Two kidnapped Indonesians were killed by their abductors. The remaining hostages were freed within five months.

Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.

This story corrects the spelling of the pilot's first name.

New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, center, who was held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region, talks to the media during a news conference after his release, in Timika, Papua province, Indonesia, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Endy Langobelen)

FILE - Police guard a hospital where workers threatened by Papuan rebels were brought for medical examinations in Mimika, Papua province, Indonesia, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. Security forces evacuated the workers from an area where they were searching for a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by separatist rebels of the West Papua Liberation Army. (AP Photo/Saldi Hermanto, File)

FILE - New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters comments during an interview with The Associated Press in his parliamentary office in the capital, Wellington, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Tantrum, File)

In this photo released by Cartenz Peace Task Force (Satgas Damai Cartenz) of the Indonesian security forces, New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, left, who was held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region, sits with police officers after his release, in Timika, Papua province, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Satgas Damai Cartenz via AP)

In this photo released by Cartenz Peace Task Force (Satgas Damai Cartenz) of the Indonesian security forces, New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, who was held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region, sits after his release, in Timika, Papua province, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Satgas Damai Cartenz via AP)

In this photo released by Cartenz Peace Task Force (Satgas Damai Cartenz) of the Indonesian security forces, New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens, left, who was held hostage for more than a year in the restive Papua region, sits with a police officers after his release, in Timika, Papua province, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Satgas Damai Cartenz via AP)