Wallabies must get used to All Blacks

Ben Horne,
AAP Updated December 4, 2013, 2:52 pm


Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie says there's no point making excuses for the toughest draw in the Rugby Championship, with the double-header opener against the All Blacks here to stay.

For the third year running, Australia will play the world champions back-to-back to kick-off the tournament and the Bledisloe Cup in August, and McKenzie says due to logistical reasons, the treacherous schedule is unlikely to change.

New Zealand have been crowned undefeated champions two years running in the Rugby Championship, and on both occasions have steamrolled the Wallabies' campaign within a week.

For South Africa or Argentina to win the four-nation tournament, they too would have to beat the All Blacks. But for Australia there's no chance to build momentum before taking on the world's premier team in Sydney and then Auckland.

Adding to the challenge is the fact the Wallabies haven't held the Bledisloe Cup since 2002 and haven't won at Eden Park since 1986.

However, after winning four from five on the Spring Tour, and with Tests against France next June, McKenzie says the Wallabies will be in the best shape yet to finally break their hoodoo.

"We have a lot more time to get organised with the June Tests against France so we should be able to go into that pretty well set up," McKenzie told AAP.

"We're definitely making progress in the right direction so that's good looking forward to the championship next year.

"It's not daunting, it's a really good challenge for us.

"We didn't get it right (this year) but each time we played New Zealand we closed the gap so we'll look forward to that.

"I don't think there's too many ways you can run the draw. It's what it is and we've just got to get out there and make the most of it."

McKenzie says he got what he wanted out of the Spring Tour, despite losing to England first up and standing down six players for a mid-week drinking session.

The Wallabies showed they could bounce back from adversity by putting four wins back-to-back and McKenzie said the challenge now would be to pick up from where they left off in 2014.

It's likely McKenzie will have Kurtley Beale, David Pocock, Wycliff Palu and Scott Higginbotham all back from injury - with the Super Rugby season to start in February.

"We've done a lot of changing. It's taken eight or nine games to get it right," he said.

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