McCaw eyes Wallabies scalp

Earning his second cap, the 24-year-old stepped his way though the Wallaby defence before finding Aaron Smith with an outrageous offload.

The Wallabies beat the All Blacks 21-9 in Wellington in 1990 and Farr-Jones said that was the catalyst for them to go on and win the World Cup the following year.

The All Blacks captain will surpass Brian O’Driscoll’s current mark of 141 Tests this weekend, but has sought to talk down praise in the build-up. He would not be human if some emotion did not flicker behind that granite-like façade.

Welcome to the penultimate match of Southern Hemisphere Tests for 2015.

The All Blacks, angry at being beaten 27-19 last week in Sydney, hammered Australia 41-13 at Eden Park in Auckland to send the team off to the World Cup with the cheers of nearly 50,000 rabid fans ringing in their ears.

The Wallabies had been dominating territory and were driving from an attacking lineout when the All Blacks pinched a turnover just out from their line and broke out. For that reason, McCaw is content to sacrifice any celebration of his personal landmark for the greater good.

“I don’t think it’s fair to anyone if I don’t pick a player because of where we’re playing”, Cheika said, reports Yahoo News. “That means we have to front up physically and obviously the number six jersey has got a lot of kudos with that role”. “The key is to let it fuel you”. But that alone isn’t going to work. Of course, that victory amounted to little in the grand scheme of things as the All Blacks went on to claim the bigger prize later in the year winning the World Cup.

The Bledisloe Cup is contested annually between the trans-Tasman rivals with the All Blacks desperate to make amends with a comprehensive win to retain the trophy they have held since 2003.

New Zealand know they need to win if they are not to lose grip of the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2003 when Australia visit Eden Park on Saturday. So blinkered is McCaw, he does not intend his farewell to his favourite amphitheatre to end any other way.

“If you are looking at the broader picture, we don’t have any more home games this year”.

Cooper, who has a poor record against the All Blacks in New Zealand, was removed from Wallabies’ lineup last week. “That’s the way he likes it, and the way we like it”.

Of Cooper’s yellow card, he said he felt the player was trying to pull off a try-saver rather than intentionally going high.

“Not too many guys get through their career without getting badly injured”, Hansen said. “The thing I marvel about with Richie is that his performance, week-in, week-out, is always well into the 90s”.

The lanky ex-lock said the All Blacks persisted with tactics that weren’t working, such as using Brodie Retallick as a pivot wide of rucks where one bad pass would lead to another as the Australian defenders kept “steaming up”.

But the Wallabies have tweaked their outside backs combination, with coach Michael Cheika bringing in Henry Speight for Drew Mitchell on the right wing to partner fullback Israel Folau and Adam Ashley-Cooper.