Wallabies given day off to freshen up

The Wallabies have been given today off training to freshen up for Saturday night’s landmark Bledisloe Cup match against the All Blacks in Hong Kong.

After spending the past four weeks sweating it out at a series of boot camps in Sydney, the Wallabies have the chance to do some sightseeing - as well as take part in promotional activities - before heading to Sha Tin races tonight.

The Wallabies acclimatised to Hong Kong’s steamy conditions with a 90-minute session yesterday, but coach Robbie Deans said most of the base work had been done over the past month and a half since their last-up 28-24 Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup loss to New Zealand in Brisbane.

Deans admitted there was no substitute for match practice and was banking on his players’ natural fitness to see them through Saturday’s encounter, the first of five Tests back to back.

“That’s obviously going to be one of the challenges that we’re going to have to overcome, is that out guys aren’t rugby fit, so they’re not conditioned to playing the game,” he said.

“In terms of the amount of contact work, we’ve done a fair amount of conditioning work. But it’s not match conditioning.

“So certainly in the last few days we’ve tried to replicate what we think would be helpful in preparing us for what we’re going into.

“But the reality is there’s nothing like playing, so the All Blacks probably have an advantage to that end. How much, we will see on the night.

“It’s been good to have an opportunity, though, to spend some time with the group and to work on some of the detail, so to speak - skill habits and so forth and some detail that we had identified through experience.

“So, yeah, it has been good. It’s not ideal for what we’re going into but it’s still good value.”

After resting up today, it will be back to business tomorrow when Deans names his 22-man squad for the first-ever Bledisloe Cup Test at a neutral venue.

His biggest selection quandary seems to be over whether to recall Berrick Barnes from a shoulder injury or retain Ryan Cross in the centres alongside skipper Stirling Mortlock.

Deans already told halfback Luke Burgess yesterday that he had won a starting berth ahead of Sam Cordingley after spending almost three months in the stands with a knee injury.

“I was a little surprised, but I guess we’ve all had a fair bit of time off and we’ve all been working very hard. It’s very exciting,” Burgess said.

“I’m really lucky and again honoured to be selected.”

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