Australia won their first Tri-Nations title in 10 years, when they beat New Zealand 25-20 in a nailbiting affair in Brisbane on Saturday.

But equally important was the Wallabies put even more doubt into the All Blacks' minds with the World Cup just a fortnight away.

Even more important, the All Blacks will host the World Cup knowing they are going into the global showpiece on the back of two successive defeats.

It was classic Wallabies - racing into a 20-3 half-time lead, before a second-half fightback saw the Kiwis level at 20-all.

However, the perfect counter-punch - from ace scrumhalf Will Genia, that resulted a try to hard-running fullback Kurtley Beale - saw the Wallabies end their decade-long drought and claim the Tri-Nations trophy.

From the outset the Wallaby forwards flooded the breakdown area and not only succeeded in slowing down the Kiwis' ball, but they managed to win some valuable turnovers.

While Australia's set pieces were rickety at times, they managed to get enough turnover possession to punish the haphazard All Black defensive lines.

To make matters worse for the Kiwis, they lost two of their frontline loose forwards - No.8  Kieran Read and blindside flank Adam Thomson - to ankle injuries in the first half.

The All Blacks will be very worried men, considering their captain Richie McCaw also took an early blow to the ribs and the World Cup is less than two weeks away.

In the second half the Kiwis showed a lot more patience with the ball in hand - as epitomised in Conrad Smith's try in the 52nd minute, when they took the ball through 26 phases before finally finding the space

However, the Wallabies showed their great counter-punching ability when Will Genia slipped through a narrow gap, put Digby Ioane into space and he in turn put Kurtley Beale over for a crucial; score going into the final quarter.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries: Genia, Samo, Beale
Cons: Cooper 2
Pens: Cooper 2

For New Zealand:
Tries: Smith, Nonu
Cons: Carter 2
Pens: Carter 2

Teams

Australia: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Anthony Fainga'a, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Radike Samo, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 James Horwill, 4 Dan Vickerman, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Salesi Ma'afu, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Ben McCalman, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 Rob Horne.

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 John Afoa, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Colin Slade, 22 Isaia Toeava.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)