Last weekend the Aussies shipped eight tries in a record 54-34 defeat in Sydney. Now they have to head to Dunedin licking their wounds and wondering what lies ahead.
Both teams, of course, are on the Welsh team radar as they will join Georgia and South Africa in coming to Principality Stadium in November for the Under Armour Series 2017. It promises to be an amazing month of Test rugby for Warren Gatland’s players and the Welsh fans.
Both McGregor and the Wallabies have a puncher’s chance of pulling off the seemingly impossible this weekend, but even the usually upbeat Aussie head coach Michael Cheika is bowing to the inevitable.
“I don’t think anyone expects us to win, to be honest. People would be justified in thinking that,” admitted Cheika on Friday. “But it’s up to us to write our own chapters if we want to change that attitude around.
“Like I’ve said before, only we can turn that around on the field. We do lots of good stuff away from the field, but what counts is on the field for everybody. We know that and we’ve got to let our game do the talking.”
A win for New Zealand would see them retain the Bledisloe Cup for a 15th consecutive year. To stop them from doing that, Australia need to achieve their first win across the Tasman since 2001. It’s a tall order, but the Aussies love nothing better than a challenge.
As for the ABs, the chilling thing for their opponents is that skipper Kieran Read wasn’t happy with last week’s record breaking performance. It doesn’t just want more of the same, he wants better!
“A more dominant team would have finished the job and that’s something we can improve on,” said Read, unhappy at conceded 28 second half points in Sydney. That meant the All Blacks had lost the second half of their past three matches.
Hurricanes hooker Dane Coles is back in the starting XV for the home side after recovering from concussion and to make the task even tough for the Wallabies there will be a special tribute paid to Sir Colin Meads, the All Black legend who died last week.
The All Blacks will wear a special tribute on their jerseys to provide an extra emotional element to the occasion. Meads played 15 times against Australia and won 12 of them. He died the day after the win over Wallabies last weekend and the players are due to have his All Black number, 583, embroidered into their shirts for the return game.
Lock Sam Whitelock will formally present his No 5 jersey to the Meads family after the match at Forsyth Barr Stadium. You can just hear the dressing room team talk from Read before he takes his side onto the field – “let’s do it for Sir Colin!”
The Springboks, who face Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, 2 December, head to Argentina to try to complete the double over the Pumas following their 37-15 victory in Port Elizabeth in Round 1. South African coach Allister Coetzee is re-building his side and they are bound to be a tougher proposition for Wales than they were last year in Cardiff.
This weekend’s team has a total of 334 Test caps in starting line-up – 120 in the backline and 224 in the forwards. There are a further 113 caps on the bench.
The average caps per player in the backline is 17, the forwards 28 while the players on the bench average 14.
The average age of the starting XV is 26. It is obvious the Springboks are growing a side and it will be interesting to see how they get on when they face the All Blacks.
The Rugby Championship – Round 1
Australia 34, New Zealand 54
South Africa 37, Argentina 15
Round 2 – Saturday, 26 August
New Zealand v Australia – Dunedin (08:35 BST)
Argentina v South Africa – Salta (18:30 BST)
Under Armour Series 2017 – BUY TICKETS HERE www.wru.wales/tickets
WALES v AUSTRALIA – Saturday, 11 November 2017 (17:15)
WALES v GEORGIA – Saturday, 18 November 2017 (14:30)
WALES v NEW ZEALAND – Saturday, 25 November 2017 (17:15)
WALES v SOUTH AFRICA – Saturday, 2 December 2017 (14:30)
