Desire and defence key to All Blacks upset

 

By , 9 Aug 2012

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    Wallabies utility back Adam Ashley-Cooper believes desire and a more-structured defence can help Australia end their Bledisloe Cup drought.

    Of the current Wallabies squad, only veteran lock Nathan Sharpe has experienced a successful Bledisloe campaign and that was 10 years ago.

    Australia begin their inaugural Rugby Championship challenge with back-to-back clashes with New Zealand in Sydney on August 18 and Auckland seven days later.

    Ashley-Cooper said the Wallabies badly wanted to end their dry decade against New Zealand and revealed they had focused on ways to contain the traditionally high-scoring All Blacks.

    “For us, it’s about not allowing them to do what they do best so, defensively, it’s a real focus for us and we’ve done a lot of work on that and hopefully that pays off for us,” Ashley-Cooper told AAP.

    “This time around, we’ve added a lot more structure in our defensive game with the new support staff in Andrew Blades, Tony McGahan and Nick Scrivener.

    “For us, they’ve really added intensity to the group, not only in attack but in defence, so that’s where we feel hopefully will be our point of difference.”

    Asked why Australia’s upcoming Bledisloe campaign would be different to the failed ones of recent years, Ashley-Cooper said “I think we want it more.

    “We didn’t have an Australian team competing in the final of Super Rugby, so we’ve had the opportunity to gather a lot earlier than previous years and that’s been great.

    “There’s a lot of positive energy. We’ve spent a bit of time together, we’ve got through a lot of work, a lot of detail and there’s a real buzz.”

    Ashley-Cooper was under no illusion about what it would take to lower the colours of the world champions.

    “It’s just knowing the expectation that it’s going to be the hardest game you’ll play, the most pain you will endure and just the fastest and the most physical battle you will encounter,” Ashley-Cooper said.

    “With those expectations, it enables you to prepare mentally and physically well enough to go out there and really do the job.”

    Ashley-Cooper played on the wing in the last Test against Wales in June after starting the first two at fullback.

    With Kurtley Beale returning at fullback for the final Test, Ashley-Cooper looks most likely to stay on the wing against New Zealand, even if coach Robbie Deans is keeping everyone guessing.

    “Robbie has rotated a lot of backs through different positions and, obviously – with the injury to (centre) Pat McCabe – there’s been even more rotation now,” Ashley-Cooper said.

    “There’s a lot of guys training in different positions, so it’s hard to get a gauge on where blokes will end up, but we’ll find out next week.”

    © AAP 2013

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