VIDEO: Wallabies unfazed my naysayers ahead of Bledisloe Cup
The wounded Wallabies have bunkered down, intent on escaping the external pressure of trying to break one of the most infamous droughts in Australian sport.
The Wallabies host the All Blacks in Sydney on Saturday desperate to end New Zealand’s 22-year stranglehold on the Bledisloe Cup.
Australia must win the first of two trans-Tasman Tests to keep the series alive heading to Wellington next week but are backing up from a humiliating, record-setting 27-67 Rugby Championship loss to Argentina in Santa Fe.
The fallout from the Wallabies’ extraordinary capitulation from a 17-point first-half lead has been savage.
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As Wallabies continue to struggle, former England Test stars Andy Goode and Ben Youngs want the British and Irish Lions to tour South Africa instead of Australia next year to ensure a competitive series.
Meanwhile, former World Cup-winning All Blacks coach Steve Hansen reckons the Wallabies have lost their edge since Rugby Australia expanded the country’s Super Rugby talent pool from three to five teams, saying the easier ride to a club tended to create a “soft underbelly”.
The Wallabies, though, aren’t listening, instead battening down the hatches to avoid hearing the flak flying about ahead of a must-win showdown with last year’s World Cup finalists in France.
#NEWS: All Blacks suffer another blow ahead of Bledisloe Cup clash 👇#NewZealand #AllBlacks #RugbyChampionship #BledisloeCup https://t.co/IaJ5CrZxX0
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“Everyone’s going to have their opinion and there’s always going to be that external noise,” Wallabies prop and former captain Allan Alaalatoa said on Tuesday.
“For us as leaders and as a group, we’ve got to focus internally on what’s important to us.
“We understand that those distractions are going to be there. People are going to say what they think of us.
“But, again, what’s important for us is what we believe ourselves and executing our plan throughout the week to then go out there and then perform and then change the external noise that’s happening.”
Alaalatoa conceded there’d been some serious soul-searching on the flight back from Argentina, as well as some stern words from coach Joe Schmidt upon their return.
He said Tuesday’s training session was also as torrid a session as he could remember to start a week’s build-up.
But the tough love was all necessary if the Wallabies are to compete with the All Blacks, who will also be stewing after suffering rare successive defeats in South Africa to the world champion Springboks.
“The boys know that the All Blacks are a tough outfit, as we all know,” he said.
“But a lot of our players here have played a lot of the individuals in Super Rugby, which I think is good for us.
“Our focus is on ourselves. We understand the threats that they’re going to bring, but we want to pour all our attention into us delivering our system over and over again as much as we can because as delivering that for 40 isn’t good enough.
“You’ve got to be doing that for 80.”
#NEWS: All Blacks suffer another blow ahead of Bledisloe Cup clash 👇#NewZealand #AllBlacks #RugbyChampionship #BledisloeCup https://t.co/IaJ5CrZxX0
— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) September 15, 2024
Meanwhile, centre Hunter Paisami admitted he was unlikely to come back this week from a knee injury sustained against the Springboks last month in Perth.
“I’m still going through some sort of return-to-play policy at the moment,” Paisami said.
“So I’m still up in the air. I’ve got to get the knee strong and fitness first.”
