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Marc Hinton, stuff.co.nz | July 14, 2009 - 2:04PM
The presence of a gleaming Bledisloe Cup at yesterday's team meeting in Auckland was a strong indicator that this is no ordinary week in the All Blacks camp.
The delay in naming the lineup to face the Wallabies at Eden Park on Saturday night until tomorrow is another. There is an edge to proceedings this week as an apparently out-of-sorts All Blacks outfit with Stephen Donald seemingly back in the selection picture gets set to make another one of those statements.
It seems they like making them at Eden Park, too. Against the Wallabies. Remember it was almost a year ago when there was an eerily similar backdrop to the last visit by Robbie Deans and his men.
Then, the All Blacks had lost two Tri Nations matches and there was talk that a third in as many outings would bring some fairly intense heat on the recently reappointed Graham Henry.
The reverberations are not so dramatic this year, However, the poor showing against the French and Italians revealed, if nothing else, a concerning lack of depth in the injury-ravaged top tier of talent.
Also then, as now, there is the Richie McCaw factor. Last year the talismanic All Blacks skipper, and best player, had not played in either the loss to the Springboks in Dunedin, or the shambles in Sydney. With his return it was as if a magical switch had been flipped.
This year McCaw skipped the matches against France and Italy because of a knee injury, and the All Blacks clearly missed both his presence as a ball-winner and his inspirational qualities as a leader.
It would have been no coincidence that Henry chose to position the Bledisloe Cup, which the All Blacks have held for the past six years, in a prominent place when he gathered his team for their traditional Monday morning meeting.
"We just talked about how we're going to go about beating Australia basically," halfback Brendon Leonard said.
"It was the same as always we had a bit of a debrief on what our priorities are this week, and how we're going to attack and nullify the Aussies' strengths."
Asked if there wasn't just a little more of an "edge" to the meeting, given the backdrop, Leonard pondered a moment before confirming suspicions.
"Possibly," he said. "Every test week is a big week, but the Bledisloe Cup was in the room this morning. The boys saw that and it's probably what provided the edge."
Tighthead prop Neemia Tialata, who will resume in the No.3 jersey after resting a sore neck, agreed that there was a familiar feeling to this week in Auckland.
"We're in the same situation as we were last year," said the big Wellingtonian who's had his critics this year. "We didn't panic and we obviously didn't listen to the pressure coming on us from media and fans. It comes down to individuals making sure we do all the little things right, and players sticking together."
It was a sign of the tension of the week that Henry elected to push his team naming back until tomorrow morning from the regular Tuesday afternoon slot.
That would surely have been about the problem No10 position. Donald has had hamstring problems; his backup, Luke McAlister, has been struggling with a sore back. But both trained yesterday, taking their turns in the shadow test lineup, and the team-naming delay is probably a reflection that Henry needs a little longer to make the most informed decision he can.
Likely All Blacks XV: Mils Muliaina, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Stephen Donald or Luke McAlister, Jimmy Cowan; Rodney So'oialo, Richie McCaw (capt), Jerome Kaino, Isaac Ross, Brad Thorn, Neemia Tialata, Andrew Hore, Tony Woodcock.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...337112192.html
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Originally Posted by jargan83
