Now for the serious business
Now for the serious business of the Bledisloe Cup.
A potential omen for the All Blacks: they have never won a Rugby Championship tournament during a successful World Cup year, and current leaders the Boks have it all to lose when they play Argentina next weekend, but New Zealand have held the Bledisloe since 2003 and it’s a piece of silverware they dearly want to keep.
It’s a simple equation for Steve Hansen’s men in Perth next Saturday. Beat the Wallabies and they’ve retained the cup for another year. If not it will hinge on the return match at their Eden Park fortress a week later.
But would a victory of any sort do at this point, with two tests remaining after this one until the World Cup? Possibly not. Hansen wants to see improvements on the two displays so far – a scratchy win over the Pumas and a similar performance in a draw to South Africa in Wellington – and particularly as far as the set piece and combinations go.
Hansen will want his pack to turn the screw on the Wallabies far harder than they could manage against the Pumas and Boks. The loss of Brodie Retallick won’t help with that but Scott Barrett is back from a broken hand and available to partner Sam Whitelock in the second row. That will help mitigate against the loss of one of the best locks in the world.
Another reason to be hopeful of improvements is the fact Hansen will go with his strongest line-up. That has to mean Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett starting again, and presumably loose forward Ardie Savea running on for the first whistle too.
A fair bit of quality was missing against Argentina, and many of those Crusaders who returned to play the Springboks looked rusty from their time off. Combinations should improve as a result, and Mo’unga and Barrett would have learned an enormous amount when starting together for the first time just over a week ago.
“We’ve had a couple of weeks together and two games and everybody has played a game, just about, so we’re expecting to see things improve and combinations to click,” Hansen said.
“The message to the team is to just believe in what we’re doing and be patient. We know we always improve the more games we play together. How much? We’ll have to wait and see.”
Hansen respects the threats the Wallabies pose on attack but will know they don’t pose the defensive threat possessed by the Boks or even the Pumas.
They also attack with more freedom which will present the All Blacks, who have scored only two tries in two tests, with far more opportunities than they have received recently.
“Their set piece is working really well,” Hansen said. “They’re scrummaging well. I think their lineout is running at 100 per cent or pretty close to it. They’ve always had dangerous backs so we just have to try to put some pressure on them at set piece.”
The Wallabies’ inspirational loose forward David Pocock is likely to return from a long-term calf injury, a presence which will be carefully planned for by Hansen. “He hasn’t played for a long time,” he said. “Having said that, we know he’s a world class player, especially around the breakdown. We’ll have to put things in place to keep him out of there.”
The All Blacks have arrived in Perth without first-five Josh Ioane and loose forward Luke Jacobson due to concussion injuries, the latter a possible recurrence of a previous problem.
Flanker Vaea Fifita has travelled despite the recent sudden death of his brother.
This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to comments