Stirling Mortlock's untimely interception changed the course of the 2003 semifinal. Photo / Getty Images
It only took 10 minutes for Australia to burst New Zealand's bubble in the 2003 semifinal.
The All Blacks came into the last four on the back of a convincing victory against South Africa, to face a Wallaby side that they had beaten by 50 points on the same ground just four months earlier.
Strongly fancied to cruise into the final, New Zealand enhanced that impression when Mils Muliaina banged over the line after eight minutes but was ruled not to have touched down.
Australia barely managed to get out of their 22 from the resulting scrum, setting up an attacking lineout for the All Blacks. Ali Williams won the ball, Justin Marshall moved it to Carlos Spencer and he ran left, before stopping to throw a long cut out pass intended for Leon MacDonald. But it never made it there as Wallaby centre Stirling Mortlock saw it coming, intercepted it and ran 80m to score.
"I just remember I was marking up to [Leon] MacDonald . . . and as I looked towards Carlos I saw him sort of stop and throw a cut ball," said Mortlock. "Basically my aim was to get Doug Howlett as soon as he got the ball, because with those guys you don't want to give them too much space. That's not really a play of mine to go for the intercept. That's my first one ever.
"Initially, and I don't know why, I thought the referee was going to blow his whistle for some reason. Then I kept on running and I could see a bit of black in my peripheral [vision], then I looked and realised they weren't going to catch me."
That try changed everything. The Wallabies began to believe and they dominated everything. The All Blacks couldn't kick their goals, hold the ball or win it and the scoreline was more comfortable than 22-10 suggests.
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