New Zealand may have made a perfect start to their bid to win the Tri Nations with two home victories over South Africa, the world champions, but Richie McCaw believes the true test of where their prospects stand will come today against Australia. The two sides meet in Melbourne and McCaw, the All Blacks captain, is anticipating a tough test for his men against opposition who also have a victory over the Springboks in this year's championship.
"The Wallabies are going to be a different challenge and I think they're going to be a better challenge for us," McCaw said. "They're going to be a tougher opponent than what we've faced so far so we're going to have to be right on the job." Some extra spice, not that any was needed, was added earlier this week when a photographer managed to snap a sheet of set moves being held by Graham Henry, the New Zealand coach, at an All Blacks training session.
The photographer has since been banned from attending New Zealand training sessions, with Australia insisting they will not be looking at the image and McCaw is keen to focus on the task at hand and not dwell on the events of the past week, or previous results. "The Bledisloe [Cup] is really important and when you come to play the Wallabies that's the one [trophy] you want to look after the most," the openside flanker said.
"A win gets one hand back on it and that's something that we see as pretty important. "The confidence you get is from what we've been doing this year rather than what's happened in previous years." New Zealand easily defeated South Africa 32-12 and 31-17 in their first two games, both in New Zealand, while the Australians came out on top 30-13 against the same opponents seven days ago in Brisbane.
The Australian camp are also viewing the game as a huge challenge. Rocky Elsom, the Wallabies captain, identified the Kiwis' second-half pressure at the tackle area as a major factor for their recent successes. "We've got to be able to stop their influence at the breakdown and whether that be getting a pilfer off the ball or making sure their bodies don't spill over and lock it down, they're all things we've got to deal with," said Elsom, the CA Brumbies flanker.
"And if we want to play an attacking game, that's a big part of it. The All Blacks are the benchmark at the moment. You saw that in the first two Tests [against South Africa]." Robbie Deans's Australia side are without the suspended Quade Cooper, the fly-half, this weekend so Matt Giteau moves to No 10 with Berrick Barnes at inside centre. Stephen Moore , the hooker, comes in for Saia Faingaa. Despite the loss of the influential Cooper, Elsom, the former Leinster forward, is urging his side to end their poor run against their closest rivals after the All Blacks won all four of their fixtures in 2009.
He said: "It's certainly not something that we're thinking about going into the match. "Obviously every Test match is exactly that, a test, and we're really focused on getting up in this one." The Etihad Stadium surface in Melbourne has been under scrutiny in the build-up with Australian Rules sides having threatened to boycott matches at the ground due to the state of the playing surface. But McCaw is not concerned. "It's obviously not the best I've played on but it's going to be fine I think," he said.
"There's grounds like that around and I think it'll be as good as gold." * Agencies
October 31, 2009, Tokyo, Japan The final Bledisloe Cup fixture in 2009, held in Japan for the first time, was a fitting postscript to the Wallabies' miserable season as Australia let a half-time lead slip to fall 32-19. Having lost utility back Berrick Barnes to a knee injury before the trip, the Wallabies also lost Tatafu Polota-Nau, the hooker, to a leg strain on the morning of the match. Peter Hynes took advantage of Sitiveni Sivivatu's sin-binning to score a try and Matt Giteau converted to put Australia 16-13 up at half time. But a try by Conrad Smith shortly after the break and a kicking masterclass by Dan Carter in the last 20 minutes ensured victory and a 4-0 clean sweep of the Bledisloe Cup series.
