Just as All Black captain Anton Oliver defended his decision not to kick for goal in the last minute, No 8 Ron Cribb believes he had to gamble on preventing Wallaby wing Joe Roff from scoring what was eventually a penalty try.

With the ball bouncing towards the All Black goalline and Cribb losing the foot race to Roff, the New Zealand No 8 launched into the tackle. Referee Steve Lander had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try.

The simple conversion in the 63rd minute took the Wallabies to a 20-8 lead and they pressed on to win the Bledisloe Cup at Carisbrook 23-15.

Cribb, like Oliver, has been well criticised for his action, but he said one error of judgment seemed to have overshadowed all he had contributed to the game. "I honestly believe I had a reasonable performance. I've gone over my game and I felt I played as hard as I could and the best I could.

"The statistics showed I got over the advantage line 11 times, was second in the tackle count, and forced the most turnovers."

Cribb said he had only seconds to react before making his fateful tackle. "It happened so quickly. I realised they (Wallabies) had an over-lap and I had to get in place. I didn't expect (Stephen) Larkham to chip through.

"But he did and you had a winger (Roff) running onto the ball. I remember I just had to turn around and sprint as hard as I could. I thought the ball was going to bounce up for him to catch. It was me against a winger and I would never have forgiven myself if I had stood there and let him score the try.

"I was hoping to collide with him and the ball at the same time. Unfortunately it didn't happen that way and it resulted in a penalty try." - Sapa