The Kiwis were a class apart when the two sides squared off last weekend and the Aussies will need to up their game tenfold if they are to avoid another heavy defeat at the hands of the resurgent All Blacks.
New Zealand v Australia
Saturday 5 August
Forsyth Barr Stadium
New Zealand 1/66 | Draw 24/1 | Australia 12/1
It’s so far so good for the All Blacks in 2023 with Ian Foster’s men claiming the Rugby Championship title with three impressive wins, with the last of their victories – last weekend’s 7-38 victor over the Wallabies – also seeing them retain the Bledisloe Cup.
With two trophies already in the bag, the All Blacks are likely to do a mass amount of squad rotation as they put the finishing touches to their Rugby World Cup preparations.
Foster is likely to give Richie Mo’unga a week off with Damien McKenzie set to come back in at fly-half. The Chiefs playmakers put in a solid showing in the All Blacks 12-41 Round 1 victory over Argentina and deserves another opportunity to ply the pressure on Mo’unga, who seems to have the inside track for the starting 10 jersey at the Rugby World Cup.
Other changes are likely to occur are Fletcher Newell coming into the front row and Leicester Fainga’anuku getting a run on the wing. Sam Cane and Super Rugby Pacific sensation Emoni Narawa are both likely to miss out with the former struggling to recover from a neck injury sustained against South Africa and the latter nursing a back niggle.
While New Zealand enjoyed a flawless Rugby Championship their cross-Tasman rivals failed to win a game going down to all three of their southern hemisphere rivals. While Eddie Jones seems pretty calm for a man who is yet to lead his team to victory since taking over from Dave Rennie, the veteran will be very nervous heading into Bledisloe 2.
While their heavy Bledisloe 1 defeat can be somewhat justified with Jones giving a number of young guns a run, the Round 2 Rugby Championship home defeat to Argentina shows how far the Wallabies are away from being the finished product.
Like their counterparts, Australia are likely to make a number of changes for this one with Quade Cooper touted to come back into the fly-half role. Their will also be a change in the front row with prop, Allan Alaalatoa, sustaining what looked to be a serious injury last weekend.
They may be making wholesale changes for this one but I still fully expect this Kiwi side to dominate proceedings.
Verdict: All Blacks (-23.5) 21/20
