Aussies will be fiercer but lack self-belief

The Wallabies are bringing the kitchen sink to Wellington.

They are going to hurl it and anything else they can find and hope that with the right attitude, by upping their ferocity, they are going to keep the Bledisloe series alive.

Maybe. They do have world class players. They can play a style of game that is dangerous and it was only a year ago they showed that when they beat the All Blacks.

But there is not the remotest possibility that they will meet an All Blacks side harbouring any complacency or sense of superiority.

The home side are under no illusions about what they will be facing and equally, they understand that their greatest challenge is to find the capacity to repeat the intensity and excellence they delivered in Sydney.

“It is one of the hardest things to do,” says All Blacks coach Steve Hansen of delivering back-to-back quality performances.

“Because two things happen. One, they [the opposition] firm in their resolve to play better and sometimes teams can relax and think the job is done.

“It is about mentally controlling thought patterns individually and as a group and getting your feet back on the ground firmly and trying to not subconsciously relax.

“It is about having that same edge as last week.

“We have to find a way to win being different and that’s the sign of a good team if they can do that.”

There are no guarantees of course but the expectation is that an emotionally charged Wallabies team are going to meet an equally motivated All Blacks side and if that is the scenario, then it’s hard to see anything other than a home win.

And that’s the truth of the rivalry at the moment and has been for a long time. It’s tricky to know when exactly — maybe after the World Cup semifinal in 2011, when the All Blacks were so commanding in victory — but it feels like the Wallabies have lost that vital inner belief that they can regularly beat the All Blacks.

They are a side who look mentally trapped by history, as if they accept that they can’t break the All Blacks’ 13-year ownership of the Bledisloe.

It’s as if they come to New Zealand more as an exercise in damage limitation than with any genuine conviction they can win.

We have to find a way to win being different and that’s the sign of a good team if they can do that. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen

If they escape with a narrow loss, that will do. It’s a mindset that comes as a result of not having won in New Zealand since 2001 and copping a few hidings along the way.

The more it has happened, the more it has become accepted as the norm to the extent that it would be fascinating to determine what level of confidence truly exists within the Wallaby camp at the moment.

Just as fascinating would be trying to get answers as to what the players believe can happen to change this. What will break the pattern? What will persuade the Wallabies that they can do more than pull off occasional victories, look the All Blacks in the eye and take the Bledisloe Cup from them?