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The key Wallabies weakness the All Blacks will look to exploit in Bledisloe Cup III

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

All Blacks captain Sam Cane is banking on his team’s enforcers to make life hard for Wallabies debutants Noah Lolesio and Irae Simone in Saturday night’s Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney.

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Injuries to James O’Connor and Matt Toomua means the Wallabies will feature a rookie 10-12 combination for the must-win clash.

Lolesio, 20, will slot in at flyhalf while 25-year-old Simone has been named at inside centre.

Despite the duo’s immense talent their inclusion represents a big risk against the powerful All Blacks’ backline.

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Wallabies captain Michael Hooper speaks to media

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Wallabies captain Michael Hooper speaks to media

Cane said instead of ruffling the pair’s feathers with words his team would try to make their life hard by disrupting and rushing them.

“The best way to unsettle them would be us as a forward pack doing a quality job at set piece disrupting their ball,” Cane said.

“Us getting off the line and taking away their time and space.

“They’re quality young footballers. Anyone who chucks that Wallabies jersey on they’ll be going out there to put their best foot forward.

“If you think about most people who debut they have a pretty good game because it’s a realisation of a dream.

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“Like any Test match we’ll certainly be looking to put pressure on the guys that drive them around the park.”

The All Blacks lead the four-match series 1-0 after following up the 16-16 draw in Wellington with a 27-7 win in Auckland.

If the Wallabies beat New Zealand this Saturday, next week’s clash in Brisbane will become a winner-takes-all affair.

Australia haven’t won the Bledisloe Cup since 2002 and are desperate to end the drought.

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The Wallabies missed a whopping 40 tackles in their loss in Auckland, representing 27.5 per cent of their tackle attempts.

It’s a figure that the All Blacks took notice of.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they’d be doing a wee bit of tackling practice,” Cane said.

“Everyone knows your defence has to be good to win Test matches.

“We’re still confident that if we can hold onto the ball we can force them to make a lot of tackles and hopefully miss a few too.”

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fl 7 hours ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Smith generally isn't well connected to his forward pods; doesn't do a great job of distributing to those around him; and has inferior positional and contestable kicking games than Ford and Fin.


When England have had success over the past few years, its been either through (i) defensive rugby backed up with smart tactical kicking or (ii) high possession attacking phase play based on quick ruck ball. George Ford was key to the implementation of (i) in the RWC, and in the 6N win over Wales, and to the implementation of (ii) in the 6N games against Ireland and France. Smith did great at (ii) when running at tired defenders at the end of the Ireland match, but has never successfully implemented that gameplan from the start of a test because he doesn't distribute or support his forwards enough to create consistent fast ball and build attacks over multiple phases. Instead, his introduction to the starting side has resulted in much more playmaking responsibilities being forced onto whoever plays 9. Alex Mitchell copes ok with that, but I think he looks better with a more involved playmaking 10 outside him, and it really isn't a gameplan that works for JVP or Spencer. As a result of that the outside backs and centres have barely touched the ball when Smith has been at 10.


This might not have been too much of a disaster, as England have seemed to be moving slightly towards the sort of attacking gameplan that France played under Labit and Quins play (I think this was especially their approach when they won the league a few years ago - but its still a part of their play now), which is based on kicking to create broken field rugby. This is (i) a sharp departure from the gameplans that have worked for England in the past few seasons; (ii) bears very little relation to the tactical approaches of the non-Quins players in the England team; and (iii) is an absolute disaster for the blitz defence, which is weak in transition. Unsurprisingly, it has coincided with a sharp decline in England's results.

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