AB opponents have plenty to gain and lose in end-of-season preludes to Cup

There’s rarely if ever an easy day at the office for the All Blacks. They are the team that stokes fires in all others. The history, the status, the respect that they carry brings out the best in their opponents.

A season can be defined by a match against the All Blacks. A coaching career can be saved by one victory against New Zealand: players drifting out of favour can be slammed back in if they front against the All Blacks. Not that they ever forget it, but the All Blacks will get a reminder of all this in the next four weeks with their opponents, for different reasons, conscious that New Zealand represent a season-defining opportunity.

Australia are still – albeit only just – clinging to their Bledisloe victory in October last year as a means of trying to convince an increasingly disgruntled and sceptical following that they are not tracking entirely in the wrong direction.

That victory at Suncorp last year papered over an awful lot of cracks. The Wallabies came into it as a somewhat eclectic bag having been awful in the first Bledisloe test, excellent in the second with two draws with South Africa and a defeat to Scotland making them a confused mess as to what they might deliver.

In the background there was trouble as the Western Force appealed the decision to axe them from Super Rugby, arguing that the Melbourne Rebels were far more deserving of being thrown under the bus.

Coach Michael Cheika was smart enough to frequently say in the buildup to the third test with New Zealand that victory for the Wallabies would unite a divided nation and pretty much make everything right.

When they did indeed win, it bought him months of goodwill. The Wallabies headed to Europe shortly after and were beaten by England and then thumped by Scotland.

When they lost the June series to Ireland, the pressure really should have been mounting but that victory

against the All Blacks, despite seven tests having been played in the interim, kept the wolves at bay.

But having lost four of their Rugby Championship games, Cheika needs to replenish the pot and nothing will restore belief and confidence better than beating the All Blacks in Yokohama. That’s the key to the Wallabies regaining the trust of their fans and for Cheika and his coaching team to provide the Australian Rugby Union with definitive evidence they are progressing.

As it did last year, one victory against the All Blacks will change the complexion of the Wallabies’ season.

England, and their under pressure coach Eddie Jones, are in a similar boat. Faith in Jones is fading.

After a miraculous start to his tenure which saw England win a world record-equaling 18 consecutive tests, things have turned to custard.

The man who could do no wrong can suddenly do no right and after finishing fifth – their worst placing in history – in the Six Nations and then losing the June series to South Africa, England are in dire need of a win.

They also face the Springboks and Wallabies this November and as much as Jones will be determined to beat them, he knows that the key to his fate is how England perform against the All Blacks.

That’s the fixture on which he will be judged and if England win that, then almost everything else will be irrelevant: everything will be forgiven.

The All Blacks can therefore be certain that whatever England have looked like so far this year, not matter their injury toll, they will be almost unrecognisable come November 11.

Their intensity, urgency and determination will be through the roof and the All Blacks are going to have to respond with one of their own best performances of the season.

Ireland’s driver will be different when they meet the All Blacks in Dublin. They are entrenched as the No 2 side in the world, but their ambition is to be No 1.

A few years ago they would have been content to have come close, but these days that doesn’t cut it with them and the test on November 18 will be their moment of truth: the chance to find out if they can make that step from being a good team to a great team.

In between the Wallabies and England, Japan will throw the kitchen sink at the All Blacks for the simple reason that tests against New Zealand are few and far between and not to be wasted when they do come about.