McDonald only took over the captaincy after leg one from Southampton to Cape Town, but has had an immediate impact.

His team took line honours in the famous Sydney to Hobart race and then made an enforced three-hour pitstop before heading off towards New Zealand.

Her jubilant husband admitted to fatigue at dockside.

"We're all very tired as two of our top guys were down.

"Magnus Olsson, watch leader and the most experienced guy on the boat was down and wasn't on deck from Hobart and Jason was down after just a day, so we were very short of manpower.

McDonald felt the pressure from local hero Dalton in the closing stages.

"He's probably the worst man in the world to have behind you coming into Auckland.

"He's got a good reputation for being a come-back king and we were aware that if anyone was going to catch us it would have been him."

Dalton, meanwhile, was noble in defeat.

"Assa Abloy sailed a really good race. They took it right out of Hobart, they sailed very hard and have done a fantastic job.

"So congratulations to them and to Neal, they really deserved it."

Fanstone could not fault News Corp's performance but was disappointed with the result, having lost places late on.

"We were top three with four hours to go and we didn't quite get the breaks towards the end.

"I guess it's disappointing but we are not disappointed in the performance, just the result."

Sweden's SEB, the eighth boat in the race, withdrew from the third leg after damaging its rudder during the Hobart race.

It is expected to take part in the fourth leg that leaves Auckland for Rio de Janeiro on 27 January.

The Volvo Ocean Race, which began in Southampton on 23 September, ends in Kiel, Germany, in June.

After traversing the Southern Ocean to Rio de Janeiro, the yachts set sail for Miami, Baltimore, France and Sweden.