The All Blacks perform the haka. Photo: John Cowpland/Actionpress
Wallabies v All Blacks
Kick-off: 5:45pm Saturday 21 September (NZT)
Accor Stadium, Sydney
Live updates on RNZ Sport
The All Blacks have traveled across the ditch to defend the Bledisloe Cup, but it's fair to say there's more than just silverware on the line for Scott Robertson's team. After two consecutive defeats to the Springboks, on the back of a shock home loss to the Pumas, the heat is now on to shape up. That's not to say it's been all bad - in fact there's been plenty of positives so far in 2024, and we're seeing the start of the incremental change that Robertson was expected to usher in.
Here's the key talking points ahead of Saturday's test:
Who, what, when, where
Scott Robertson's All Blacks go into this Saturday's test having won four and lost three tests so far this season. It's imperative that they not only win but win big against Joe Schmidt's Wallabies. The Bledisloe Cup has been in the All Blacks' possession for 21 years now, so to be the first coach to lose it since then will turn the spotlight seriously on Robertson. Thanks to the packed sporting weekend in Sydney, which sees NRL and AFL preliminary finals taking place, we have a rare but very welcome afternoon kick-off at the 80,000 capacity Accor Stadium in Homebush.
Accor Stadium, Sydney. Photo: Raghavan Venugopal / www.photosport.nz
Who makes up the loose forwards
There's been a fair reshuffle of the depth chart. Wallace Sititi was the success story of the Cape Town test against the Boks, surprisingly thrust into the starting blindside role but vindicating his selection with an outstanding performance. He's played number eight all season for the Chiefs, but a move there will mean a shift for Ardie Savea back to openside presumably. There's now some serious question marks over Dalton Papali'i's role, as he was overlooked for the last test, while Samipeni Finau and Luke Jacobson looked to have swapped places in order of preference.
Wallace Sititi. Photo: Evan Denworth / www.photosport.nz
Hot form
Tupou Vaa'i has stepped up, big time, while Codie Taylor has simply reminded everyone of how good he is. However, the All Blacks can't simply rely on these two key men to win them games. Tyrel Lomax has chimed in with some excellent open field play and Cortez Ratima has potentially played his way into the starting halfback spot. Out wide, Caleb Clarke was outstanding in Johannesburg and is surely a first-choice starter once fit.
Caleb Clarke. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Points to prove
Ethan de Groot is back and will need to click back into top form, as he'll no doubt be starting after a short injury break. The All Black scrum has been very good this year and can't afford a slip up here, as the Wallabies need to be dominated early in order to gain field position and a psychological edge. It will be interesting to see what the midfield combination is this weekend after Rieko Ioane and Anton Lienert-Brown put in different bodies of work outside Jordie Barrett, is the heat on Ioane?
The Wallabies are at a very low ebb
The one good thing for the hosts is that they can't possibly get much worse than their last performance, which saw them get gashed for a record 67 points at the grandly named Brigadier General Estanislao López Stadium in Santa Fe, Argentina. The only bright spot was that they led 20-3 at one stage, but even that makes it arguably worse that they somehow let the game swing that far in the second half. After a soft start for Joe Schmidt, that saw three victories over Wales and Georgia, things have turned very hard, very quickly.
Harry Wilson of the Wallabies. Photo: Daniel Carson/Photosport NZ
The bench needs to perform
The biggest critique of the All Blacks in The Rugby Championship is that apart from Lienert-Brown, the replacements so far this season have added nothing or even detracted from the overall performance when injected into the game. That was in sharp contrast to the Springbok bomb squad, who were part of a carefully calculated plan to close out test matches, effectively being the difference in both tests. Perhaps the All Blacks bench needs a catchy name to get them going, something like The Afterburners or The Razor's Edge. Any ideas, please let us know.
