Opinion
Both teams are heading in to kick-start their Rugby Championship season with new occupants of the coaching box, with Ian Foster in for the All Blacks and Dave Rennie in for the Wallabies.
All Blacks have a high chance of winning this clash, with a 77.41 per cent overall win rate in games, and they have won most of the Bledisloe Cups to date. However, Australia on their day are able to produce massive upheavals in rugby, and I certainly do not doubt their ability to do so now.
Sam Cane vs Michael Hooper
Both flanker captains will look to dominate each other. Both are strong in the breakdown and are great tacklers. Hooper has been in better international form recently, but Cane’s recent Super Rugby performances suggest otherwise.
Ardie Savea vs Pete Samu
Savea is a beast of a flanker, and he was brilliant last year. Meanwhile, Samu has shone in this year’s Aussie-separated Super Rugby competition. There will be major competition at 8, and both will look to suppress the other.
Savea has not been much of a standout in SR this year, but his North-South performance was certainly an assertion of his form and ability.
Aaron Smith vs Nic White
Both are rather nippy scrum-halves, and both will be worth watching in the first Bledisloe. Aaron Smith showed his top form in Super Rugby Aotearoa, and he is the form 9 of that competition. He has been scintillating in passing, sniping the rucks and he will be extremely deadly to any defence.
(Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)
Nic White will present a threat off the rucks, as he instrumented the Wallabies’ win over the All Blacks in 2019.
Richie Mo’unga vs James O’Connor
Mo’unga is by far and away one of the world’s best flyhalves with a brilliantly vast skillset. His cross kicks to the wing will threaten the Wallabies severely. Also, he can command a game excellently and playmake very well.
O’Connor is no slouch either, and his direction was crucial to the Queensland Reds this season.
In the clash of tens, who will prevail?
George Bridge vs Marika Koroibete
Bridge has a great mix of handling skills, speed and rugby brains – he knows how to mark opposition, read the game and chase the ball well. He may well be the new Ben Smith – a blend of rugby brains, ball-handling, defensive smarts and speed.
Meanwhile, Koroibete will be a beast of pace and power to carry hard and sprint hard, barrelling into the defenders.
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