New Zealand 22 Australia 16:New Zealand drew first blood in the 2009 Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations series with an entertaining and hard-fought win against Australia in Auckland today.With talisman skipper Richie McCaw back to lead the way, the All Blacks shrugged off their indifferent early-season form to come from behind and lay down a marker ahead of Tests in South Africa in the coming two weekends.

Twelve months ago McCaw, who remains unbeaten on home soil as captain, returned from a six-week injury lay-off to inspire the All Blacks to a 39-10 victory against the Wallabies at Eden Park just a week after a heavy defeat in Sydney.

On Saturday, in similar circumstances, he produced another strong performance to galvanise a side that had stuttered their way to a drawn series with France and win against Italy.

To be fair, the return of warrior number eight Rodney So'oialo and centre Conrad Smith and wing Sitiveni Sivivatu in the backs also helped instil some composure and direction in the team who grew in confidence as the match wore on.

For the Wallabies though, the ghosts at Eden Park continue to haunt them and they will be disappointed not to have given stalwart George Smith the victory he deserved in his 100th Test appearance.

The Australians have not won at the Auckland venue since 1986 but hopes of changing that were high when they raced to a 10-0 lead with less than 10 minutes on the clock.

First Berrick Barnes ghosted past some indifferent All Blacks

defence to touch down after four minutes and Matt Giteau's conversion and a penalty gave them a handy lead.

Stephen Donald then missed his first shot at goal but made no mistake with his second attempt a minute later when Benn Robinson was marched 10 metres for throwing the ball away to put the penalty within kicking distance.

A poor decision by Donald in the 18th minute to grubber kick deep in his own half should have been punished and was not and it proved to be a turning point in the game as the New Zealanders got their tails up.

The ball came back off the legs of Giteau who dived forward to smother it before popping the ball up to Barnes. He evaded the All Blacks defence but held onto the ball too long then saw his pass to George Smith hit the flanker and go forward with the line begging.

McCaw was then penalised for playing the ball off his feet and Giteau saw his second penalty hit the upright before going over to put the visitors 13-3 ahead.

But the All Blacks got themselves right back in the game though with a try to their skipper. After struggling at lineout time - where two throws by Andrew Hore went too long and led directly to points to the Wallabies - they opted to throw to So'oialo at the front who took it comfortably.

That sparked a nice interplay between Donald, who produced a far more assured performance than he had against France last month, Sivivatu and McCaw which got the All Blacks close.

The ball found its way to the All Blacks fly-half again but he was nailed in the tackle and Conrad Smith gathered the ball and set McCaw away.

Donald's conversion reduced the deficit to 13-10 and the score remained that way to half-time after he and Giteau both missed a penalty attempt each.

Donald got the All Blacks ahead early in the second half with two successful penalty kicks before Giteau replied to level the scores 16-16.

Donald, with the wind behind him in the second half, banged over another three-pointer after a great charge down by Jerome Kaino on Giteau got the All Blacks hot on attack.

Giteau's radar continued to falter and he missed another chance on 63 minutes and Wallaby hopes of victory began to fade.

The All Blacks kept up the pressure and the mistakes came from the visitors, hooker Stephen Moore penalised for killing the ball allowing Donald to slot his fourth three-pointer of the night six minutes from time to put the home side 22-16 in front and super defence ensured in the dying minutes ensured that was a close as the Australians would get.