All Blacks locked on Bledisloe Cup retention after ‘honest’ conversations

AUCKLAND – New Zealand’s mission to retain the Bledisloe Cup against Australia has helped the All Blacks move on from the pain of their record defeat by South Africa, assistant coach Jason Holland said on Sept 23.

The All Blacks have held the trans-Tasman trophy since 2003 and can lock it away for a 23rd successive year with victory over the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship clash at Eden Park on Sept 27.

Ten days after the 43-10 setback against the Springboks in Wellington, Holland had few concerns about players “dropping heads” following the nation’s heaviest defeat in Test rugby.

“Obviously the boys hurt massively during the last week,” he told reporters in Auckland.

“A lot of those boys have been around a long time and they're pretty clear with everyone around what the Bledisloe means.

“It’s massive for the crew, it’s massive for us and getting solutions quickly has enabled us to have real confidence in what we’re going to do this week.”

Australia lead the Rugby Championship on 11 points, one ahead of second-placed South Africa and third-placed New Zealand with two rounds to play.

As attack coach under Scott Robertson, Holland’s work is under scrutiny following the All Blacks’ series of second-half fade-outs.

They were held scoreless after the break in Wellington a week after managing 10 points after half-time in the 24-17 win over the Springboks at Eden Park.

The Wallabies, by contrast, have made slow starts, then racked up late tries in both the 28-24 win over Argentina in Townsville and the 28-26 loss to the Pumas in Sydney.

Holland said one of the All Blacks’ top priorities was finding a better balance between their kicking and running games, after giving up too much possession with the boot against the Springboks.

After recovering from a foot injury, Robertson’s preferred scrum-half Cameron Roigard could help with striking that balance.

Roigard has been sidelined for the entire Rugby Championship, but was part of an exhaustive review of the Wellington wipe-out when the team assembled in Auckland over the weekend.

“There was a bit of edge about the review, some real honest conversations talking about standards and expectations (and) around where we went wrong,” the 24-year-old told reporters.

“It wasn’t a short, sharp review, there was lots of layers to it. We have a lot of pride in what we do and we want to always perform to make New Zealand proud.”

Meanwhile in the Wallabies camp, Australia have a dismal record at Eden Park but fly-half Tane Edmed regards the All Blacks’ fortress as “just another footy field”.

The Wallabies have not won at Eden Park since 1986 and no team have beaten the hosts there since France in 1994.

But Australian fans have renewed hope that this could be the Wallabies’ year as the All Blacks appear vulnerable after their record loss to South Africa.

Edmed shares that optimism, even if the Wallabies are coming off a defeat by Argentina and are missing one of their most important players following an injury to loose forward Rob Valetini.

“They’ve got a great record, but it’s still just another footy field,” he said.

“We’ll prepare accordingly. The All Blacks are a great side, no denying it, but we’ll focus on what we can control and work hard this week to give ourselves the best chance.”

In preparing for Sept 27, the 25-year-old may get little out of watching recent Wallabies matches at the stadium.

It has been the site of furious smack-downs by the home side, with an aggregate score of 130-61 against Australia in the last three Rugby Championship Tests there.

The last visit in 2022 saw the Wallabies humiliated 40-14.

REUTERS