New Zealand v Australia: Everything you need to know

Bookmakers have installed Australia at the longest odds they’ve ever been heading into a clash against world champions New Zealand.

Last week in Sydney against the Wallabies they raced to a 54-6 lead after 48 minutes then took their foot off the gas and Michael Cheika’s side scored four unanswered tries.

The Wallabies arrived in Dunedin to a frosty reception, with one newspaper, The Otago Daily Times, publishing a photo of Hooper with the inflammatory headline: “Tell ’em they’re dreaming”.

The final quarter descended into a see-saw battle with Genia finishing a counterattack that he had sparked before Ben Smith appeared to have given New Zealand the lead for good when he crossed in the 71st minute.

Previous All Blacks sides under Hansen had a knack of overcoming big deficits and somehow winning games they should have lost.

Smith will begin his All Blacks sabbatical after this week’s Dunedin Test against the Wallabies.

In the second half the All Blacks continued their dominance in the scrums and forced the Wallaby pack into several infringements, allowing New Zealand to control the game in the early stages of the half.

“Like we’re dreaming? I think no one [expects us to do anything] to be honest”, Cheika said.

All Blacks skipper Kieran Read has labelled last weekend’s second-half Test showing against Australia as a “kick in the guts”, foreshadowing an even more ruthless display in the second Test in Dunedin.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika isn’t surprised nearly everyone has written his side off. “We’ve got to adapt to that”.

The finances of the national union are not good, chief executive Bill Pulver has tendered his resignation and the issue of the culling of the Western Force Super Rugby franchise remains unsettled, with the state union getting a court injunction that prevents the national union from taking any further action for now.

“Like I’ve said before, only we can turn that around on the field”. I understand that’s the way it goes sometimes, but I wanted them to get the reward, but it didn’t end up working out that way.

But once they settled down and made the passes stick they began to make inroads.

“There were things during the game that could have changed the course of it and then the last bit, those three mintues, we should have got hold of that ball and kept it at all costs”.

“It was a great test match”, Hansen said. In the back row, Ned Hanigan gets another chance to prove himself at blindside after an anonymous performance in the Rugby Championship opener with flanker Sean McMahon again picked out of position at number eight.