It was almost an action reply of Sydney six years ago when Fitzpatrick also scored out on the wing as New Zealand reclaimed the cup after the disappointments of 1986.
[comment caption=Share your favourite Carisbrook test memories with us]The winning margins were similar, 14 points (30-16) in 1987 and 15 on Saturday, and the satisfaction on each occasion was equally intense.
It was 9-3 at half-time, and anyone's test, although the All Blacks in the five minutes before the break had lifted their tempo and intensity as they pounded the defence.
The Wallabies withstood the barrage but it seemed the first team to score in the second spell would win.
So it proved and, for the All Blacks, it seemed there had been no half-time break as they continued their bombardment.
They surged straight back into Wallaby territory, the forwards won phase after phase, Grant Fox threw a long cut-out pass to John Kirwan and outside him was Fitzpatrick - a sort of unofficial right wing - who dummied, straightened and crashed over in the tackle of Tim Horan.
"I won't take any credit for that try - it belonged to the forwards," the happy hooker said.
"It was just pleasing to cap off a fine movement.
"We'd said at half-time we'd have to go to five, six, seven breakdowns to breach the defence, and we did. That set the tone for the second half."
Three minutes later, the All Blacks, in rampant mood, had scored again.
Lee Stensness chipped behind the defence with his left foot, Va'aiga Tuigamala gathered and surged on with David Campese grimly hanging to his jersey and - when he was finally reined in - there in support was Frank Bunce to take the pass and score his third try in four tests this season.
In the space of five minutes, New Zealand had extended its lead from six to 16 points and that was a deficit from which not even the desperate Wallabies were going to be able to recover.
Tim Horan did score a brilliant individual try when he plucked a Pat Howard punt from mid-air but it was the boot of Fox - who kicked five of his seven attempts - which sealed a victory savoured by the entire country.
"It's wonderful. It's something I've wanted personally since we lost the series at Ballymore last year," Fitzpatrick said.
The All Black coach, Laurie Mains, praised the visibly increasing maturity of the forwards.
"The forwards at times were absolutely outstanding. They drove together as a unit and there was controlled aggression.
"Some of our tight forwards are starting to mature and to become genuine test players.
"There are many areas of our game where we are considerably ahead of where we were at this time last year.
"Arran Pene was always going to play well at Carisbrook. He grew in stature again.
"Olo Brown handled the ball more and made more ground with it than I've seen him.
"Our tight forwards are very young in terms of test experience - in fact, the whole pack is.
"I said before the test in Auckland we were starting to gel, and that has carried on.
"It's good some of these players are starting to make decisions, where in the past they've been following like sheep."
Mains acknowledged he had concerns 25 minutes into the first half when the All Blacks lost their early impetus and Australia began to exert considerable pressure.
"But when we started to get our game together just before half-time, I was a bit more relaxed.
"I knew we had a 10-minute target just after half-time, and I thought the players would achieve it.
"That burst early in the second spell showed what this team is capable of when it gets going forward; when it is hungry and urgent.
"Obviously, you can't do that for 80 minutes but, if you can turn it on in bursts, it is hard to combat."
There was about the match, and the crowd, a generosity of spirits. It was exemplified by:
• Those great rivals, Tuigamala and Campese, walking from the field together with their arms draped around each other's shoulders.
• The remark of Horan, surely the finest second five-eighth in world rugby, who rated the All Blacks' display as highly as those produced by the great All Black side of 1987 and 1988.
• The actions of the rival captains, Fitzpatrick and Phil Kearns, in thanking the Otago crowd for providing an atmosphere which made the test such a special occasion.
• Kearns' special praise for the All Black flanker, Michael Jones, who in the last two tests has proved, indubitably, that he remains without peer in world rugby as an open-side flanker.
"I think you should leave him out of the team," Kearns quipped.
"He's been very effective in the last couple of games. He's also a nice bloke, so that's another plus."
The Wallaby coach, Bob Dwyer, said: "New Zealand was clearly the better team and deserved its win.
"We really lost it because of some unforced errors.
"We had a lot of pressure on at times but we couldn't quite convert it into points.
"We were obviously very tense and wrong options cost us dearly."
Dwyer said that, on Saturday's form, New Zealand was playing better and Australia a little worse since the 1991 World Cup.
"We certainly wouldn't have won the World Cup with our performance here. We probably wouldn't have progressed past the quarterfinals."
Kearns said the Wallaby defence was not as efficient as it had been in the past.
"Defence has won us a lot of games. In this test, it possibly let us down a bit on occasions."
In contrast, the New Zealand tackling - with Jones, Jamie Joseph and Pene outstanding in the forwards and Bunce and John Timu fiercely competitive in the backs - gave the Wallabies few chances to develop attacks.
Fox, the little general, kicked the vital goals was equally accurate with his tactical kicking and startled himself and more than 40,000 spectators - 38,500 inside the ground, at least another 2000 in vantage points outside - when he dummied and broke the Australian defence 15 minutes into the second spell.
Stensness confirmed he is a five-eighth of genuine class and vision, and Tuigamala was all but unstoppable as he thundered at and through the Australian defence, thighs pumping, eyes blazing.
The loose forwards were magnificent and worked splendidly as a unit.
Jones was everywhere, Pene was 110kg of brawn and brain - a lethal combination - and Joseph tackled, tackled and tackled.
Robin Brooke won vital line-outs under pressure near his own line.
Brown not only anchored the scrum but made two or three storming bursts with the ball in hand, while Fitzpatrick had his best test of the season.
The Wallabies tall quartet of Garrick Morgan, Rod McCall, Tim Gavin and Troy Coker shaded the All Blacks in the line-outs, although New Zealand improved in the second half.
But while the Australian forwards did well enough in set play, they lacked the all-devouring urgency of the All Blacks around the field.
Howard, thrown into the Carisbrook cauldron, had a horror start when - for some unfathomable reason - he tried to run the ball out from his 22, was tackled, penalised for not releasing the ball, and Fox goaled.
He made other crucial mistakes.
He also showed glimpses of genuine talent, but he rather epitomised the Australians - they lacked consistency and solidity.
Horan was outstanding with his limited chances.
Nick Farr-Jones made a blemish or two but otherwise produced a top-drawer performance, while Campese - despite his problems with Tuigamala - got through a lot of work.
The All Blacks can improve on this display, and that is an exciting challenge.
They can reflect on job well done.
This was a very good victory.
Match report reproduced from the ODT, Monday July 19, 1993.
