Analysis: Oh, to be an All Black tonight!
This team gets to play at some of the world’s great sporting venues — Ellis Park, Stade De France, Millennium Stadium, Wembley, Stadium Australia and even Soldier Field in Chicago.
But nothing will be quite like the Melbourne Cricket Ground experience tonight.
It’s not until you stand outside, and even more so, inside "the G" that the aura of the great sporting theatre hits you. Fans will be a fair distance away tonight due to the oval nature of the ground but it’s still the MCG.
Last night, 90,000 packed in for the Carlton-Collingwood local derby AFL game. The city came to a standstill [in a good way, not an Auckland traffic standstill sort of way].
Bars and restaurants all along the Yarra River were packed. The vibe was something to behold. Capped off in the distance by the beaming lights towers of the MCG. And there’s another massive AFL game tomorrow in Richmond versus Melbourne.
All up, the stadium will ship close to 300,000 fans in and out and around across a 48-hour period. There aren’t too many cities in the world that can do that — Auckland struggles to get a train carriage carrying 30 fans from Britomart to Kingsland on game day!
Tonight, 23 All Blacks will taste MCG for the first time.
In fact, the only member of the All Blacks playing or coaching squad with G experience is defence coach Scott McLeod who played in the midfield in 1998, losing to the Wallabies in a result that helped end his Test career.
The All Blacks have a terrible record at a beautiful ground, having played three official Tests, lost two and won one.
This current team can change that by going out and playing their fast pace, smash-mouth brand of rugby and continuing to lay a marker for the World Cup and sending a clear message to other nations.
I’m looking forward to seeing Dalton Papali’i start such a big game. A big No.7, a dynamic ball runner and hard tackler, tonight is the Blues captain’s time to shine and it’s a massive pre-World Cup opportunity for the boy from Pakuranga in East Auckland.
Papali’i has started Tests in Cardiff, London and Dublin, but this will be his biggest challenge down under. The Australians have picked an even bigger openside in Tom Hooper, which will only lift Papali’i more. The All Blacks haven’t been beaten when the 25-year-old plays the green and gold.
The Wallabies have a starter’s chance. Eddie Jones will have them bouncing off the G walls come kickoff.
After all, let’s not forget the Wallabies should’ve won at Marvel Stadium down the road from the MCG in Melbourne last year. If there’s one team in world rugby that can stick with the All Blacks [for a period anyway] when it comes to pace, natural talent and using the ball it would be the Aussies.
But this is a different All Blacks team and a very different Wallabies team still finding it’s way under a new and very different Aussie coach.
What better way to create more doubt in Australian rugby circles and what better way to win and retain the Bledisloe Cup for the 21st straight year, than a powerful victory inside one of world sport’s great coliseums.
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