mens
international
For 24 years in a row, the Bledisloe Cup travels from New Zealand Rugby headquarters in the arena of choice, only to return to his familiar cabinet two weeks later. All but six years of the current run involved a ‘dead tire’ test.
This year’s edition continues that trend, with Bledisloe off the table for the next 12 months, but another Test will be played the same way, asking the familiar question: what are teams playing for?
The All black peoplewhose 50-19 win at Eden Park got them back on track after three straight defeats against the Springboks answered the question in camp this week.
“We’ve talked; there’s no trophy to play for, but internally, there are certain habits and standards and legacies that require the All Blacks to support and represent your country,” Jordie Barrett said. “That’s at the forefront of our thinking and our training this week; we had a great training session today and we want to maintain a really high standard and win on Saturday.
“Look, there’s no trophy to play for, but our ambition and our goals haven’t really changed.”
Defense coach Tana Umaga shared a similar sentiment when asked the same question, saying, “The pressure we put on ourselves should exceed what comes from the outside.”
The former All Blacks captain, who was part of the last New Zealand side to lose the Bledisloe Cup in 2002, made a vocal contribution to the team’s preparations last week, inspiring a ferocious performance that matched their Ellis Park win for the best of the year.
“It was something we worked hard for,” Umaga said of the win. “We put a lot of expectations on ourselves to raise our game from our previous campaign in South Africa, so it was great to have that response.
“The key thing is: how do you do it again? There’s no Cup on the line; there’s no Eden Park history. So that’s where good teams go; they put pressure on themselves to be the best they can be every week. That’s Test rugby and that’s the All Blacks.”
There’s motivation beyond this series, not just to maintain the All Blacks’ glorious all-time percentage. This weekend’s Test match will take place at the Accor Stadium, the same venue that will host next year Rugby World Cup the final. While it is only a symbol of things to come, the weekend’s game offers another key opportunity for the new All Blacks coaching staff to build their game ahead of next year’s tournament.
“We’ve only come this year, this coaching group and this group of players, getting to know each other around what Dave (Rennie) wants to implement, but also, in the back of our minds, we know we’re here with a big goal in 12 months,” Umaga added. “We have to make sure we put the pieces together and build nicely for it.
“As the All Blacks, every game is important. Everyone’s expectation at home is to win every game, and that’s what we have to aim for. We know it’s harder now than it was before; we just have to keep working at it.”
