All Blacks eye history against the Wallabies

The All Blacks said they were primed to make history and Australia did their best to shut down the hype yesterday as the world champions seek a record-breaking 18th consecutive Test win.
 Despite a pressure-laden build-up, captain Kieran Read was in a relaxed and jovial mood ahead of today’s game at Auckland’s Eden Park, which has been a fortress for the All Blacks.
 “The boys are excited. We’re up for this challenge. It’s going to be a massive game, I’m really looking forward to it,” said Read. “Obviously, it hasn’t been done in the history of tier-one nations. As a game against Australia, we’ve got to prepare like all the other games where we’ve been successful.”
 Victory would break a 47-year-old record which was set by New Zealand in 1965-1969 and has been equalled twice, by South Africa in 1997-1998 and the All Blacks in 2013-2014.
 The hosts have won their last 35 Tests at Eden Park, where Australia haven’t tasted success for 30 years – but the Wallabies do have a habit of snapping All Blacks winning streaks. In 2010 they stopped a run of 15 All Blacks victories. They halted a 16-match winning streak in 2012 and two years later, a 12-12 draw in Sydney left the All Blacks stranded on 17.
 But while the All Blacks named their strongest possible line-up, the Wallabies opted for an experimental team. Coach Michael Cheika made four changes to their side that beat Argentina 33-21 two weeks ago, saying he wanted a “different feel” for the game as he looked to the future.
 The Wallabies this year have been way below the form that took them to the World Cup final 11 months ago and for Cheika, it meant going back to the drawing board. “We understand that instead of moaning and complaining about not having depth we’ve got to go out there and create,” he said, adding that playing the All Blacks “will be excellent in giving us experience”.
 Most of Australia’s current players weren’t even born when the Wallabies last won in Auckland, but Cheika was not interested in revisiting history.
 “Every Test match is a big occasion. If we start thinking about those things and thinking what’s not possible you’ll come up with a negative answer,” he said after putting his side through their one training run in New Zealand. “You’d be blind not to see that we haven’t done well here for a fair while but if you don’t have the dream or conception inside that you can go out there and do it then it’s never going to happen.”
 Although the All Blacks are overwhelming favourites, Read said the All Blacks knew from past experience that they couldn’t take the Wallabies lightly.
 “We’ve learned that it isn’t just another game. When you’ve got something on the line oppositions raise their game and we’ve got to certainly raise ours,” he said.
 “We know there’s that little bit extra, and that’s extra for both teams. It’s not just our record, it’s the Australians’ record to try and stop us from making it and that will put a bit of extra spice on it.”

Australia drop Cooper, Foley moves to flyhalf
Australia have dropped flyhalf Quade Cooper for the game at Eden Park, where the All Blacks will be going for a record 18th successive Test victory. Standout loose forward David Pocock returns from injury to take a place on the bench with the pack unchanged from that which started the match against the Pumas at Twickenham.
 New Zealand-born Cooper, who has struggled at Eden Park in the past, drops to the bench and will be replaced in the number 10 shirt by Bernard Foley, who played at inside centre for most of the Rugby Championship.
 Foley will be reunited in a halfback partnership with his New South Wales Waratahs
teammate Nick Phipps, who comes into the starting line-up for Will Genia, who has returned to club duties in France.
 Reece Hodge moves inside from the wing to strike up a midfield partnership with Samu Kerevi, allowing Fiji-born winger Henry Speight a first start for the Wallabies since last year’s World Cup.
 Cheika said Cooper’s benching was less about the player and more about trying a new midfield combination, with Hodge getting his first start in his preferred number 12 shirt after an impressive first five Tests as an outside back.
 “Testing new ideas on the bigger stage, some people might not think is the right time but I think that’s the place you see if it’s really something that can work in the future,” he said.
 All Blacks coach Steve Hansen had predicted the dropping of Cooper and the move of Hodge to the centres in his pre-match media conference on Thursday.
 But Cheika denied there were mind games behind the squad’s late release, saying it was necessary to assess injuries, and joked about Hansen’s foresight. “He must have known somehow. I’m not quite sure (how) because the bug is gone,” he said, referring to the listening device that was found in the All Blacks’ Sydney hotel before the teams played in August.
 New Zealand will retain the Bledisloe Cup for a 13th straight year regardless of the result of today’s match after back-to-back victories over Australia in August.