Eden Park, where the Wallabies must reassert themselves this weekend, has traditionally been a citadel for the All Blacks.
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The All Blacks haven’t lost there since 1994 (to France) and the Wallabies haven’t won there since 1986.
“I’m certainly proud I can still foot it after all these years and be good enough to be in the team”, McCaw said, playing down the many milestones in his career.
Kronfeld, who has previously explained that his comments were misinterpreted, appreciated the humour and laughed.
The selection of a rocks and diamonds-type player like Cooper has come as a huge surprise given Matt Toomua’s outstanding and assured performance coming off the bench to play No. 10 last weekend.
“We try and build our game around physicality and having a power game through the forwards and being creative in the backs”, he said.
They’ve made six changes ahead of their Bledisloe Cup blockbuster against the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday night, including the improbable return of first five-eighth Quade Cooper, a divisive but extremely talented footballer who Kiwis love to hate.
“I remember them all for the different reasons why you ended up on the wrong side of the score sheet”.
“The ironic thing is it hasn’t been spoken about in the group”, Hansen said of McCaw’s record-breaking 142nd test. “That’s the way he likes it and that’s the way we like it. He’s putting the team first and it’s another day at the office when he has to play well”.
Michael Cheika’s experiment with starting two openside specialists faces the ultimate test when the Wallabies face the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship decider at ANZ Stadium.
But with one eye on the bigger prize of the World Cup, starting in England next month, coach Michael Cheika has put last week’s 27-19 victory behind him and made wholesale changes to test the depth of his squad.
Rangy loose forward Victor Vito has been given an opportunity to cement a World Cup place after he was named as New Zealand’s blindside flanker for the Bledisloe Cup Test with Australia in Auckland on Saturday.
To top off his Eden Park nightmares, Cooper destroyed knee ligaments in the playoff for third against Wales a week later and since the reconstructive surgery has rarely looked the confidently mercurial player he once was.
The Springboks, although defeated, had played splendidly for about 60 minutes in a much better performance than they gave in a last-minute defeat to the Wallabies at Brisbane. “But again, he’s going to lift once this team is more sure about what it’s doing on the park”. They’ve got people over the ball really quickly. No-one doubts Cooper’s talent but his control and defence at test level has been regularly exposed under pressure.
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Milner-Skudder was out of this world, admittedly, but it will take more than one game for Hansen to be convinced of the winger’s talent, hoping to see replicated success in Auckland.
