Same teams, same venue, just one week on...the health crisis has forced some adaptations for everyone in footy and here's another. The Wallabies are back at Eden Park for another crack at the All Blacks on Saturday. Every fibre of history says they can't win so what's in store? Jim Tucker has his preview and betting tips here.
Sat, August 14, Eden Park, Auckland, 5.05pm (AEST)
You can see whatever you want to see from last weekend's 33-25 win by the All Blacks on the same slippery turf at Eden Park. Those looking for strong pointers about the character of the Wallabies can justifiably point to their three late tries that tightened a 33-8 blowout to 33-25. That hang-in quality is essential if you ever imagine beating the All Blacks on New Zealand soil. Scoring four tries against the Kiwis shows the Wallabies do have some strikepower and they get back their best attacker, Marika Koroibete, on Saturday. The Wallabies did have some success when they played more direct rather than impatiently throwing cutout passes for intercept tries.
On the flip side, the All Blacks had the Test won by the 65-minute mark with a 25-point lead. They had pressed the accelerator for 15 minutes and come up with a 17-0 avalanche. When it mattered they threw the knockout punch as they invariably do at Eden Park.
There's a lot of talk this week about there being plenty of improvement in the Wallabies and that uniting Rob Valetini, Matt Philip and Lachie Swinton in the forwards makes the pack edgier and more physical. That might be true but look at history. The past decade tells us the Wallabies have their best crack at beating the All Blacks in a series opener and come up well short in Test No.2. Ignore where those Tests have been played. Between 2012-2020, the Wallabies won twice and drew twice in nine Bledisloe Cup openers. Over the same stretch, they are 0-from-9 in Bledisloe No.2 and have lost by a crushing average margin of 21 points. All betting wisdom says keep backing the All Blacks at a venue where they haven't lost to the Wallabies since 1986.
The young Wallabies who'd never experienced Eden Park as Auckland's hostile cauldron until last weekend will benefit because they are back in the same surroundings immediately. The Wallabies need a fast start, a 10-0 break to apply some pressure. The lineout was a windy, wonky mess to start with last weekend before we got the wonderful precision of that long lineout throw for the Hunter Paisami-Andrew Kellaway try. Let's see another set play gem pay off, some big Wallabies' defence, very few unforced errors and every point-scoring chance taken. Only then will the Wallabies be in this Test with a shout into the final 10 minutes.
