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The star players, key facts and who will win: All you need to know about All Blacks vs Wallabies
By AAP
A GUIDE TO THE BLEDISLOE CUP BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND:
When: Sunday, 2pm AEDT/4pm NZT
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Where: Eden Park, Auckland
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Overall: Played 191, All Blacks 133 wins, Wallabies 50 wins, Draws 8.
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
2020: All Blacks 16 dr Wallabies 16 at Sky Stadium, Wellington
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2019: All Blacks 36 bt Wallabies 0 at Eden Park, Auckland
2019: Wallabies 47 bt All Blacks 26 at Optus Stadium, Perth
2018: All Blacks 37 bt Wallabies 20 at Yokohama Stadium, Tokyo
2018: All Blacks 40 bt Wallabies 12 at Eden Park, Auckland
THE COACHES
Dave Rennie: Joins Michael Cheika, Robbie Deans, Eddie Jones and Rod Macqueen as Australian coaches to not lose in their first test against the All Blacks. Only Macqueen and Jones went undefeated in the second.
Ian Foster: Already an unpopular choice as New Zealand coach, Foster is the first All Blacks coach since Laurie Mains in 1992 to not win his opening test.
KEY WALLABIES
Ned Hanigan
The scruffy-haired Hanigan has won over Rennie with his training efforts. The lock-cum-flanker is hopefully part of the answer to the Wallabies dodgy lineout.
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Nic White
The halfback is expecting the All Blacks to come hard for him after the damage he caused in the first test with his sniping around the ruck and clever kicking game.
Brandon Paenga-Amosa
The other piece of the lineout puzzle, the Reds rake replaces Folau Fainga’a who paid the price for three lost lineouts in the first half in Wellington.
KEY ALL BLACKS
Beauden Barrett
Superstar fullback Barrett returns after an achilles injury looking to add to his tally of 11 tries against Australia, with nine in his past six tests.
Richie Mo’unga
Mo’unga led the All Blacks in run metres (94) last week but also made the equal-most errors in the contest so expect a more polished performance in game II.
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Scott Barrett
The versatile forward returns from a four-month injury lay-off which saw him miss the entire Super Rugby Aotearoa season. The last time he faced the Wallabies he earned a red card.
THE STATS
– While the Wallabies have not beaten the All Blacks at Eden Park in 34 years they did beat Wales there in the 2011 World Cup bronze final.
– Playing their eighth draw last week, the All Blacks have always won the next test between these sides.
– The Wallabies have lost by an average margin of 25 points across their past eight tests at Eden Park since 2011.
THE TIP
All Blacks by 7 points.
