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.
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Other than Eden Park, the Wallabies have not beaten the All Blacks anywhere else in New Zealand since 2001, which translates into a 19-match losing streak in New Zealand against the men in black. “They put our crest on it, so they wouldn’t want our comment (about the record)”, Cheika snapped.
Refusing to be gagged, Cheika on Sunday wasn’t backing down after Hansen accusing him of “hijacking” New Zealand’s test world-record celebrations.
Australian captain Steven Moore was quoted by the newspaper as saying it had been “disrespectful”.
Since a 3-0 home series loss to England in June, Australia has suffered embarrassing losses away to Argentina and South Africa during the Rugby Championship, and faces the toughest test of all, away to New Zealand. They have now lost seven of 10 tests this season.
But the Wallabies hit back with a try to rookie lock Rory Arnold and the All Blacks needed a charge-down try to scrumhalf T.J. Perenara in the 33rd minute to take a 15-7 lead to halftime.
“They’d be thinking they’ll do it easy”, he said, before adding: “We haven’t really tested them this year”. He said he and the team would have been more than willing to share a beer with their old enemy but hadn’t been invited to do so.
“Like, really? Hello. Honestly?” I wouldn’t be smart enough to get that sort of stuff organized.
“They’ve made some significant changes to their game”. They’re too good anyway. “They only want to do it to needle me or us”. That’s how I feel about it.
He then accused Cheika of “sulking”.
‘The paper I saw, he was dressed up like a clown.
“You’ve gotta be bigger than that, don’t you?” If he doesn’t think people are respecting him then ask yourself ‘Why would the media dress me up as a clown?’ and then go and fix those problems.
“It shouldn’t get hijacked tonight”.
Cheika was also unimpressed with a controversial no-try ruling, that was a pivotal moment in cruelling the Wallabies’ hopes of conjuring a famous upset.
From there, Foley kicked another goal and managed to stop another All Blacks try by the edges of his fingertips, but it was a Television Match Official decision to reverse a Henry Speight try that left Aussie fans fuming.
“We’re going there for a good contest and I think [the All Blacks] are connected to [the caricature] obviously because they are talking about it”. But I’ve never had an Australian jersey so I think it’s something that should be treasured.
Prodigious centre Anton Lienert-Brown got his own five-pointer soon after when Speight went for an intercept and missed, allowing the Chiefs gun to stroll over.
“My focus is on the game this weekend and trying to make sure I nail my role when I get back on the field. It is there right in front of us, what are we going to do about it?'”
Still, we won our last encounter with the Aussies, so there’s every reason to believe we can do it again in the Aviva come November 26.
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Prior to arriving in Auckland the Wallabies were staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in Double Bay – where the All Blacks found a hidden listening device in a team room when they stayed there earlier this year leading to an ongoing police investigation.
