Given the All Blacks’ loss, win, loss, win record in the Rugby Championship, it’s difficult to predict what sort of performance they’ll come up with against the Wallabies in Melbourne on Thursday night.
However, an ignorance of New Zealand’s rich Bledisloe Cup history cannot be used as an excuse whatever happens.
Experienced lock Sam Whitelock has given an extensive scene setter, and the All Blacks have heard from former coach Wayne Smith, now the Black Ferns’ director of rugby, as Ian Foster’s men prepare for the intensity of what they feel will be a “desperate” challenge by the home side at Marvel Stadium.
Smith was the All Blacks head coach in 2001 when his side lost twice to the Wallabies at Carisbrook and Sydney. A year earlier, and also under his reign, the All Blacks suffered the heartbreak of losing to Australia 23-24 in Wellington after narrowly winning 39-35 the previous month in a thriller in Sydney.
While Smith later tasted Bledisloe Cup success as an assistant coach, he never did as the man in charge and the difficulty of winning it back was portrayed in his message to the current team last weekend.
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Caleb Clarke, whose starting debut for the All Blacks was a hugely memorable one against the Wallabies at Eden Park in 2020, and who will start on the left wing on Thursday, said: “We heard from Smithy, Wayne Smith, who was part of the team that lost it and he told us how hard it was to win it back. We don’t want to be the team that loses it.”
Will Jordan, who will start on the right wing, added: “We don’t take it for granted and we've done some stuff this week around the history of it. Sam Whitelock did a pretty great scene set … about the history of it and what it means. For us we hold that trophy up pretty highly. We know we have to win it again this year and at the moment it’s up for grabs.”
The All Blacks have often said the Bledisloe Cup is second in importance only to the World Cup, and, despite their at times woeful form this year they still have the ability to retain their cherished trophy (which they will do if they are successful at Marvel Stadium) and win the Rugby Championship.
Currently all four teams have won two and lost two matches. The All Blacks will host the Wallabies at Eden Park a week on Saturday.
New Zealand's inconsistency – an historic series loss to Ireland at home, a loss in South Africa before a remarkable comeback a week later in Johannesburg, a collapse against the Pumas in Christchurch, and a demolition against the same side a week later in Hamilton – means hopes are relatively high of an upset in Australia.
The Wallabies haven’t held the trophy since 2002, and that series loss to the Irish in particular raised belief levels among some in the Australian media, if not wider public, that this may be their year.
But they may have been tempered a little by the All Black response at Waikato Stadium recently when their attack finally clicked in putting seven tries on a below par Pumas who couldn’t cope with the home side’s intensity on defence.
It's that defence effort in particular that the All Blacks are looking to replicate under the roof against a traditionally free-running Australian side. Should the Wallabies struggle to break free and then kick poorly, the All Blacks showed in Hamilton that they have enough strike power in Jordan, Clarke and in particular Rieko Ioane to make teams pay dearly.
Brodie Retallick made his long-awaited comeback from a broken cheekbone as a reserve in that 53-3 victory and will start alongside Whitelock in the second row in Melbourne, with Scott Barrett moving to blindside flanker.
Retallick said of the cup the All Blacks call “the Bled”: “It means a lot to this group. We’ve touched on it this week… when I first came into the team it was players like Richie [McCaw] and Dan [Carter] and Kevvy Mealamu, all those guys who instilled how much it means to the team. Now as a senior player we’re passing that on to the younger guys.
“We obviously know it’s been a long time for the Wallabies and they’ll be desperate but at the same time we have to go out and win it as well.”
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