All Blacks: No 'easy games'
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP: Despite being overwhelming favourites, All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster is adamant the Wallabies’ ability can ‘hurt’ them again.
All Blacks will face Wallabies for the first Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney next weekend.
The last time the two sides met was ten months ago when Australia recorded a 23-18 win over the All Blacks in Brisbane.
The Wallabies’ victory broke their 26-month losing streak against the Kiwis.
The defeat is a huge concerned for All Blacks management ahead of their test in Sydney, especially with the way the Waratahs finished their Super Rugby campaign
“All I know is we’ve never had an easy game in Sydney,” Foster told reporters ahead of the All Blacks’ ‘Game of Three Halves’ in Christchurch.
“We’ve had a couple of games in my time when the score’s blown out a couple of times and we’ve also been on the back of a couple of losses, so I think that’s probably all we need to focus on,”
“What we have taken from last year is that they are a quality team and their ability to play at a level that can upset us is there.
“We’ve just got to make sure that we don’t go in expecting them to play poorly and go in at the top of our game,” he said.
In term of team news, there was still some understanding of their loose forward resources being sought by the selectors.
Ardie Savea, who missed the last part of the Super Rugby competition with the Hurricanes, had come through last week’s camp well and had another week under his belt this week.
“Certainly from the loose forwards there’s a lot of learning from us as coaches about how they go and a lot of learning from them about how they fit in so that’s going to be an evolving beast throughout this campaign,” he said.
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