A last-minute Toutai Kefu try has given Australia a 29-26 win over the All Blacks and victory in the Tri Nations tournament for the second year in a row.

The win was a magnificent final chapter in the career of retiring Wallabies skipper John Eales and brought delight to the majority of the capacity 91,000 crowd.

With Australia trailing by four points and just over one minute to go, Kefu hit a Stephen Larkham pass like a rampaging bull to finally break the All Blacks fortress and score beside the posts.

He was immediately enveloped by his team-mates in a joyous hug, with Eales in the middle of it all in the final celebration of a glittering career.

New Zealand - trailing 19-6 at the break despite spending the bulk of the spell on attack - had threatened to make Eales's swansong a night to forget.

They made an electric start to the second half - scoring 20 points in as many minutes with inside centre Pita Alatini sparking a dazzling revival.

The All Blacks scored in the second minute of the spell, when Andrew Mehrtens dummied twice on a cross-field run on halfway before Alatini straightened play, stepped around Larkham and drew Chris Latham before sending Doug Howlett across the line as the All Blacks narrowed the gap to 19-13.

A Mehrtens penalty made it 19-16 eight minutes after the break and from the kick-off Australian prop Rod Moore was sinbinned for a punch.

Within a minute, Alatini was in the action again as New Zealand pounced on a dropped ball, Troy Favell setting up a ruck near halfway before Alatini ran the short side and - with a hint of a forward pass - put Jonah Lomu into space on the left hand touch line.

Lomu passed inside to Leon MacDonald, who in turn sent Alatini scampering in behind the post as the Kiwis hit the front for the first time, leading 23-19.

All Blacks star Christian Cullen made his long-awaited return from injury with 20 minutes to play - just before another penalty to Mehrtens put New Zealand seven points clear with 17 minutes to play.

Andrew Walker, returned to the squad after being dropped for disciplinary reasons, replaced Matt Burke with 15 minutes to go and his penalty made it 26-22 with 12 minutes to go.

Earlier, New Zealand paid the price for an off the ball foul by Norm Maxwell, who was sinbinned in the eighth minute with the score at 3-3.

When he came back 10 minutes later, Australia was 10 points up thanks to a Burke penalty and a 16th minute try by to Latham, who leapt high above Jonah Lomu to catch a bomb from Larkham before wriggling over the line.

Burke converted from wide out to make it 13-3.

Eales had a less than pleasant start to his first Test, copping a whack in the nose which bled all over his last green and gold No.5 jumper.

Eventually he had to swap it for a jumper with no number - appropriate for the player nicknamed "Nobody".