Beast Of Eden
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday August 2, 2008
Australia last won at Eden Park in the days of the mullet. Hairstyles are sharper as the Wallabies tonight aim to cut through the All Blacks and trim coach Graham Henry's tenure. If they achieve "the secret seven", Greg Growden, who with a fuller head of hair covered Australia's previous Auckland win, believes the 22-year drought will end.
1 Eliminate Richie McCawThe Test could easily hinge around McCaw and whether he can play 80 minutes, which is highly unlikely considering the All Blacks skipper admitted midweek he will be playing with pain. After a six-week absence there will be rustiness and even coach Graham Henry was getting the excuses out early by saying that the All Blacks have a horrendous injury list. That is the admission of a troubled man, and his complexion will be even more blotchy if McCaw is forced off before full-time. McCaw can transform a game, but whether it is this one is doubtful. To add to the pressure, McCaw will have to counter two Australian flyers in Phil Waugh and George Smith. Rocky Elsom is a loss for the Wallabies, but the Waugh-Smith tag-team should adequately cover.2 Play with adventure. Be different The All Blacks know Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is cooking up something different tonight, but the basics will be the same. They will adopt a Crusaders-style game plan when in possession, playing with vigour, speed, adventure and to all parts of the park. Winger Peter Hynes and Lote Tuqiri will get plenty of opportunities to attack. And when the Wallabies haven't got the ball, they will rely on their excellent defence - described by Nick Farr-Jones as the best in the world - to frustrate the All Blacks into error, and then take full advantage of whatever spilt ball or 50-50 possession comes their way. Counterattack will be crucial. They will kick, but will also use the scrum and lineout as an attacking base. Despite not having Elsom, they still have at least three competent lineout jumpers in Nathan Sharpe, James Horwill and either Smith or Wycliff Palu as an alternative. And if it goes a bit haywire, on comes the best lineout sneak of them all - Dan Vickerman. 3 Work on the fact that the All Black coaches are completely bamboozled by the ELVs After attending numerous All Blacks press conferences this week, one can only ponder: "What's doing?" The All Blacks coaching staff have been going on and on about how they're not up to speed with the ELVs and that they had been outmanoeuvred by Robbie Deans. It is as if the ELVs had completely transformed the game. Rubbish. It will suddenly dawn on them that despite their belief that scrums and lineouts are now defunct, those options still remain. You just have to take scrums when free kicks are offered, and kick for the line, rather than bombing away in midfield. Their ELVs case is as ridiculous as their argument that the Wallabies were suddenly great kick-chase players because they came from a country where AFL dominates. Hardly any of the Wallabies have played that game. After hearing such drivel, you have to wonder - what has the All Blacks coaching staff been doing for the past six months? Or is it a complete smokescreen?4 Defy the weather conditions Auckland has been hit by storms all week, and Eden Park will be damp. That shouldn't deter the Wallabies, especially the Waratahs contingent, who spent half their Super 14 getting drenched. Even if the weather clears up, the evening kick-off will ensure the ball is slippery. The Wallabies are getting better with their ball handling, and that has a lot to do with Deans working hard since taking over in improving their basic skills - which had been sloppy for so long. 5 Take advantage of a new All Blacks back three When centre Richard Kahui was named on the wing to cover for Leon MacDonald, the New Zealand media began to wonder whether the All Blacks coaching team had been on the Maui wowee. It is a bewildering selection, but the All Blacks counter that it is because Kahui is a good kicker. It may actually be smarter picking a good finisher on the wing, but these are strange times in the Shaky Isles. The formation of the New Zealand back three doesn't look right, and that should ensure that the Wallabies continue to kick away at them, maybe not as much as in Sydney, but certainly enough to see whether Kahui has the jitters under the high ball. 6 Once again, get Carter Surely Daniel Carter, in a losing team, cannot play so well for a third Test in a row. Carter (pictured left) was phenomenal in Sydney, as in Dunedin, proving that when everything is collapsing around him, he is the rock. Australia succeeded in destabilising those around him last weekend, but he was still able to make an enormous impact, either relieving pressure with excellent kicks, incisive runs or precise service. How much easier for Australia it would be if they could get anywhere near Carter and force him off his game. He is not exactly surrounded by notables - especially as the All Blacks midfield no longer boasts the likes of Aaron Mauger and Tana Umaga, and so the opportunity is there.7 Forgetting that the last time they won at Eden Park was in 1986 So much is made of the Australians not having won in Auckland for 22 years. But these times are different, and Eden Park is not as intimidating as so many other venues. It is an open, generally friendly arena, and not as spooky as Ellis Park, Loftus Versfeld or even Jade Stadium in Christchurch. Why the Wallabies continue to falter there is bewildering, because they always get a good reception. They have to get their act together, not be overwhelmed by the Blackout around them, and enjoy exactly the same feeling as the then-Wallabies coach Alan Jones did in the 1986 winning dressing room. As Jones said to this weather-beaten scribe that night: "This is bigger than Quo Vadis. Bigger than anything." It was.Prediction Wallabies by 3. A dangerous tip, but a major upset is in the offing. At last there may be smiles at the end of an Auckland trip after nine straight Eden Park shockers.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
