Wallabies coach Robbie Deans out to break 'away' curse

[travelling_gerry]

THE honeymoon period is over for Robbie Deans as he confronts the greatest challenge of his Wallabies coaching career - a Test match outside Australia.
In arguably the most damning statistic in world rugby, the Wallabies have lost a record 14 straight Tests away from home against Tri-Nations rivals New Zealand and South Africa over the past six years.

Since the glory days of 2001 when Australia simultaneously held the World Cup, Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations trophy and defeated the British Lions, the Wallabies have proven road kill for their four major international foes - winning a measly two of 24 Tests against the All Blacks, Springboks, France and England.

Aside from losing their past eight Tests in South Africa, Australia haven't won in New Zealand since breaking a century-old losing streak at Dunedin's so-called House of Pain in 2001.

EXCITEMENT BUILDING: Force stars Ryan Cross, Drew Mitchell and Matt Giteau depart for New Zealand today with the Wallabies. Pic/Greg Porteous


rest of article here.............

[Swee_82]

Was wondering how an earth we managed to get a pic of 3 boys, but it's a PerthNow article... good news anyway.

I jsut love Sharpie's turn of phrase too:

Veteran lock Nathan Sharpe says the Wallabies must beware the wounded All Blacks.

"When a team gets a lot of criticism for a couple of weekends in a row, they tend to come back at you,'' Sharpe said.

"So there's going to be a few kitchen sinks flying around Saturday night, I'd say