Aussies must limit Kiwis to 20 points
THE magic number is 20.
Australia’s hopes of winning back the Bledisloe Cup for the first time in 16 years rest with their ability to hold New Zealand to 20 points or fewer.
Recent history shows if the Wallabies can contain the All Blacks to less than three converted tries they’ll win.
In the past 21 encounters over seven years, Australia have held their Tasman rivals to 20 points or fewer in six games, and lost just one – the 20-6 defeat in the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final.
Their only wins against the All Blacks in that time have come when they’ve held the Kiwis to 18, 19 and 20 points respectively, along with two draws of 12-all and 18-all.
When the All Blacks have scored more than 20 points, they have won every match since 2011.
Wallabies conductor Bernard Foley highlighted the importance of restricting the Kiwis’ scintillating attack at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night.
“These games come down to defence, it’s not how many points you can score, it’s how much you restrict them to,” Foley said.
“That’s something we learnt throughout the June series [against Ireland].
“I always back our attack when our defence is solid, when we’re able to halt momentum.
“I have no dilemmas in the quality of our attacking plays. It’s more in our defence and our mindset there.”
One of the keys to shutting down the All Blacks will be to pressure their fiveeighth Beauden Barrett, and Foley indicated Australia’s forwards led by David Pocock will be racing up to shut him down.
“You don’t want to give him time and space,” Foley said.
“He’s definitely an attacking player. He always has that attacking mindset. I don’t think you can say that he’s a conservative 10.
“He’s one who’ll chance his hand and someone you have to try to shut down earlier because you’ll struggle later.”
Another major area of focus for Australia will be their midfield defence, with the expectation they’ll field Kurtley Beale and Reece Hodge as their centre combination.
It will be an obvious area for New Zealand to target, but Foley backs his backline to hold off the raids.
“Totally confident, those guys, whoever gets the nod, no one’s a liability in our defence and their job is to make their tackles,” Foley said.