'Hopefully the ball doesn't get to him': All Blacks defence coach wants to shut down Wallaby threat

All Blacks defence coach Scott McLeod is expecting a different challenge from Dave Rennie’s side after facing two of the more combative test teams so far in this Rugby Championship.

Preparing in Melbourne for Thursday’s night opening Bledisloe test at Marvel Stadium, McLeod is expecting an expansive game compared to what South Africa and Argentina threw at them.

To prepare for that, the All Blacks are working on widening their spacings in the defensive line to cover more ground.

“The rain, and the way we’ve played against Argentina and South Africa over the last four weeks, is different to what we will experience with Australia,” McLeod told media.

“We’ve been working on seeing our space that hopefully Aussie is going to give us, but also getting our spacings right on defence.

“We got really compact against the Argies and we don’t want to be that tight against Australia.

“We’ve played two teams that are very confrontational, with skill and good kicking space so we’ve been able to adapt to that style of play.

“But again, Australia bring a lot more attacking threats. A lot more ball-in-hand, a higher skill level so we’ve had to get ready for that.”

One of those threats might be 93-test veteran fullback Kurley Beale, who has been drafted into the squad after the Wallabies have suffered an injury toll.

In his last full international season in 2019, Beale experienced the highs of a 47-26 record win in Perth where he scored a late try before the lows of a 36-0 thumping the next week at Eden Park.

The 33-year-old has been playing in the Top 14 with Racing 92 since leaving the Waratahs in 2020 and brings 22 tests worth of experience against the All Blacks.

“Absolutely, he’s back for a reason. He’s got a brilliant skillset, he’s one of the best open field ball-running players in the world,” McLeod said of the threat Beale brings.

“I’m sure that’s why they’ve picked him, so we are expecting that.”

Another one of the Wallabies key threats is left wing Marika Koroibete, who is one of the three overseas based players after joining Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan.

Koroibete’s brilliant footwork was on show in Adelaide in the first test against the Springboks as he danced around flyhalf Handre Pollard and busted through two tacklers to score.

The Fijian-born winger has scored a four tries against the All Blacks in his career, with two in 2020 over the first two tests in Wellington and Auckland.

McLeod is hoping his defensive scheme can limit the ball Koroibete receives if not erase his touches altogether.

“Hopefully the ball doesn’t get to him, so we will look at that first and if it does, we just can’t give him time and space,” he said.

“He’s extremely strong, he’s got fantastic footwork and a great skillset. We are wanting to eliminate his time on the ball.”

Marvel Stadium will provide a dry track under the roof similar to Forysth Barr in Dunedin, however McLeod joked he doesn’t want to replicate the same plan they last used in Dunedin.

“No, because we lost there,” he said referring to the second test against Ireland.

“But in terms of how we want to play we can’t overplay.

“We’ve got to be smart about how we play around the space that’s being offered and get the ball there.”