WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The second Bledisloe Cup match between the All Blacks and Australia at Dunedin, New Zealand on Saturday is in one sense a dead rubber but in another one of last chances.
For Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, it may be the final opportunity in a significant match before this year’s Rugby World Cup to convince Australians his team is on the right course.
The Wallabies have lost the three tests they have played this season and last weekend’s 38-7 loss to the All Blacks ensured the Bledisloe Cup will remain in New Zealand for the 21st consecutive year. There is no trophy on the line on Saturday but still a chance for the Wallabies to level the series and for Jones to show his plan for the Wallabies is working.
There have been few signs of that so far. The Wallabies lost heavily to South Afric a, narrowly to Argentina and heavily to the All Blacks to finish last and winless in the Rugby Championship.
Jones has continued to talk up the Wallabies’ potential but the World Cup beginning in September in France is bearing down on his team as the ultimate reality check.
Saturday’s test is a preliminary check and if the Wallabies can’t show improvement against a much-changed All Blacks team, no amount of rhetoric from Jones will lift their dim World Cup prospects.
After recent defeats, Jones has fallen back on the excuse he is rebuilding the Wallabies team after taking over as head coach in January from Dave Rennie. Jones has made changes, bringing in young players such as Carter Gordon at flyhalf. Tate McDermott who will captain the Wallabies from scrumhalf on Saturday is their fourth captain this year.
But the team still has a nucleus of experience and that is not being borne out in its results.
“We’re definitely remodeling the team,” Jones said. “This is a period when we’re finding out a lot about the team, finding out what’s good and what’s not so good. I’ve decided to improve the team through promoting young players. That doesn’t mean the senior players don’t have a crucial role to play.”
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has taken the chance, with the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship safely locked away, to give some of the young members of his squad an opportunity to show what they can do.
Foster appears to have settled during the Rugby Championship on his preferred matchday lineup. For players such as Shaun Stevenson, Samipeni Finau and Dallas McLead who will make their test debuts on Saturday and others such as Leicester Fainga’anuku, this is the chance to make an impact before Foster names his World Cup squad on Monday.
“We’ve got a number of guys that have been with us that have trained well,” Foster said. “We really believe that with what’s coming around the corner this is a great opportunity to give a few a run.”
Foster said while the Bledisloe Cup has been won, the All Blacks cannot afford to relax on Saturday. He stressed the importance of taking a short-term view in which every test is given equal importance.
"The World Cup squad is named soon but in (all) test matches we’ve got to be at our best,” Foster said. “We want to keep growing and taking a step forward and making sure this isn’t a wasted opportunity for us to grow our game.
“The minute we take the pressure off and say it doesn’t matter then we’re in trouble,” he added. “That’s the challenge of test matches. If you look too far ahead you get tripped up anyway."
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