Sir Steve Hansen predicts that the All Blacks clash with the Wallabies in Sydney will be closer than the Bledisloe Cup result at Eden Park.
New Zealand have retained the trophy since 2003 and are currently on a record 12-match winning streak over Australia, stretching back to 2020 when Dave Rennie was Wallabies coach.
Hansen predicts that the All Blacks will extend that streak to 13 Tests but doesn’t think that New Zealand can rack up another 31-point victory over the Wallabies as they did last weekend.
Sir Steve Hansen: All Blacks won’t win by as much
The 2015 Rugby World Cup-winning head coach believes that the Wallabies will be better in Sydney despite the plethora of changes that Les Kiss has been forced to make. Meanwhile, he feels that it will be difficult for Rennie’s charges to replicate their efforts seven days on from the win in Auckland.
“I don’t think they’ll win by as much as they did last week,” Hansen said on the Rugby Unity podcast.
“If they do, it’ll be really tough because it means they’ve turned up and managed to put themselves mentally and individually in the right place.
“But we talk a lot about rugby being a we game, but it can’t be we if I don’t turn up and do my job, and the first thing about my job is turning up mentally ready to go deep into the work basket.
“That takes a whole week of solid, honest preparation. When you come off a big win like that, it’s easy to drop 1, 2, 3, or 4%.
“The Aussies will have come up 4 or 5%. So those statistics around the sharpness of getting back in the game that we were talking about, they could change a little bit, and if they change too much, then Australia are right in it.”
While he predicts that the All Blacks’ performance will dip, he still believes the team is in a good place and is being led well by Jordie Barrett in particular.
“I genuinely think this New Zealand team is in a good place. I think mentally they’re strong. I love the way Jordie Barrett is leading them, through his actions, and he’s saying all the right things in the media – I think they’ll turn up. They want it again.”
Ewen McKenzie on New Zealand’s threats
Former Wallabies head coach Ewen McKenzie joined Hansen on the podcast and agreed that Australia will be better this weekend but is wary of the threats in the All Blacks team, particularly on the bench.
Australia were competitive in the first half of the Test match at Eden Park but were outclassed in the final quarter as New Zealand ran riot.
“I like the New Zealand team, [George] Bower comes in; he did a great job against South Africa. I like [Fabian] Holland, so in some ways, the team is on a par with what they put out last week, if not better in some ways,” he said.
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“I love the bench, it has got a bit of punch coming in. They’ve got three ball-carrying front-rowers there coming into the game.
“Timoci Tavatavanawai is another guy who is hard to handle. [Rieko] Ioane is unlucky not to start. [Du’Plessis] Kirifi has been terrific all season, but he’s offset by [Carlo] Tizzano coming in. So there’s a bit of a challenge there, but Australia’s got a bit to come into the game.
“It’s good to see Filipo Daugunu in the 23 at least; I don’t know why he doesn’t get more opportunities, to be honest. There’s a bit there in the second half of the game, but the percentage that Steve has talked about is important. Australia will improve, but I think it will be hard for New Zealand, but they’ll maybe win by a try. It’s going to be much closer.”
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