Wallabies tougher opponent than Boks, says McCaw

The red-hot All Blacks have rated the Wallabies a tougher opponent than world champions South Africa as both camps admitted they coveted the Bledisloe Cup more than the Tri-Nations trophy.

Australia will Saturday night attempt to avoid their worst trans-Tasman losing streak in 63 years and take a huge monkey off their back when they run out at Etihad Stadium.

An eighth straight loss to New Zealand would effectively see the No.1-ranked team take a firm, almost indestructible, grip on the Tri-Nations before the half-way point of the tournament.

But that prospect is mostly at the back of both teams’ minds as the Bledisloe Cup takes pride of place.

“It’s probably the trophy we want to win the most,” said Australian captain Rocky Elsom.

All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw agreed, while NZ-born Australian coach Robbie Deans labelled it the “ultimate contest”.

“It’s the history, it’s the meaning,” Deans said. “Meaning in life is great. Were privileged to be involved, privileged to do what we do and have this opportunity.”

Although the All Blacks clearly have a psychological edge over the Wallabies, and reserve forward Corey Flynn also chirped NZ had the game to “take them apart”, McCaw was impressed by Australia’s 30-13 thumping of the Springboks.

Coming off 32-12 and 31-17 wins of their own over the Boks, the world’s best flanker denied past Bledisloe wins would have any affect at Etihad Stadium.

“The Wallabies are going to be a different challenge and I think they’re going to be a better challenge for us,” he said.

“They’re going to be a tougher opponent than what we’ve faced so far so we’re going to have to be right on the job.”

The breakdown battle between both sets of back-rows, and particularly McCaw and open-side rival David Pocock, will be pivotal in the clash.

Elsom and Deans both identified the Kiwis’ second-half pressure at the tackle area as a major factor in their recent success.

With the Wallabies wanting to play an attacking ball-in-hand game, Elsom said it was vital to negate the influence of McCaw and his fellow forwards.

“We’ve got to be able to stop their influence at the breakdown and whether that be getting a pilfer off the ball or making sure their bodies don’t spill over and lock it down, they’re all things we’ve got to deal with,” he said. “And if we want to play an attacking game, that’s a big part of it.”

“(NZ are) the benchmark at the moment – you saw that in the first two Tests.

“That’s probably as good as I’ve seen them play in that first Test.”

Neither camp has issues with the slippery nature of the Etihad Stadium surface, but hooker Flynn talked up the All Blacks scrum to dig in and again set a strong platform.

“If we can get into them it’ll put some demons in their heads,” he said. “If we get that right we know we’ve got a pretty good game plan to take these guys apart.”

NZ sit on top of the Tri-Nations table with 10 points from two games and another win would make them almost untouchable considering South Africa are pointless and the Wallabies have just one away win in the past six Tri-Nations.

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