Pocock and Hooper will play in tandem to break Bledisloe cycle

SYDNEY: Australia have rolled the dice on back row pace being a decisive factor when they bid to unseat the All Blacks in a blockbuster Rugby Championship decider in Sydney.

Tomorrow’s match at the Olympic Stadium will not only decide southern hemisphere bragging rights for the year, but is also the first match in a twoTest Bledisloe Cup series with the return in Auckland next week.

The Wallabies last held the symbol of their trans-Tasman rivalry in 2002, and last beat the All Blacks in 2011 to win the final Tri-Nations, which was also truncated to allow for World Cup preparations.

Australia coach Michael Cheika, looking to make a statement with the World Cup just weeks away, clearly felt the need to try something a little different to break the cycle.

Openside flankers David Pocock and Michael Hooper will play in tandem in the hope of getting quickly around the park from breakdown to breakdown, and cutting off Aaron Smith’s supply of front-foot ball.

“The way they’ve both played either as start or off the bench, I think they’ve forced my hand to see if it can work,” Cheika said. “I believe it can.”

It was a tactic that worked for South Africa for much of their match against the All Blacks at Ellis Park two weeks ago, even if the world champions, as they so often do, ran out winners with a late try.

All Blacks skipper will equal Brian O’Driscoll’s record of 141 Test appearances tomorrow. The 34-year-old joins forces in the back row with Kieran Read and Jerome Kaino, and they will be confident of being able to deal with the HooperPocock experiment.

“I don’t think who they picked is going to change the way we play,” No 8 Read said.

“This battle here is huge, not only the championship but the Bledisloe is on the line. We’ve got to have the mindset of going out there to play our best game of the year.” – Reuters