Hansen wary of 'Rodzilla'

Rodney Blake

Burly prop Rodney Blake may be the answer to the Wallabies' woes up front but he will not bring an instant fix, according to All Blacks assistant rugby coach Steve Hansen.

Hansen said Australia's crumbling scrum in last Saturday night's 12-32 Tri-Nations loss to New Zealand would be a "major concern" for them and he expected personnel changes when the teams next meet in Brisbane on July 29.

Queensland giant Blake, dubbed "Rodzilla", missed Saturday's test due to injury but is due to return shortly.

"I think they're pinning big things on him," Hansen said.

"He's quite a good footballer. He's still got a wee way to go in his development but he's got the potential to be a pretty good tighthead."

Scrummaging was a serious weakness last year for the Wallabies but they appeared to be making progress in their opening tests last month.

However, the All Blacks tight five exposed an inherent problem in the game at the top level across the Tasman.

"Like anything's that not working for you, you can't just go from one end of the string to the other in one big step," Hansen said.

"Your lineouts and scrums are your starting plays and if you can't start then you can't get anything going.

"They'll work through that. They're pretty clever people the Aussies, they tend to fix most things, unfortunately."

The loss extended the Wallabies' record to 15 losses from their last 17 tests away from home against top-five nations -- New Zealand, South Africa, France and England.

Hansen last week said the Wallabies were moving in the right direction with the appointment of hardnosed coach John Connolly.

However, yesterday he wondered whether the move to add extra height to the lineout by playing regular lock Mark Chisholm at flanker had cost them in terms of mobility.

"The quality of their ball wasn't great and their timing wasn't great. Their backplay wasn't as good as we know it can be," Hansen said.

He believed the test between the Wallabies and Springboks at Brisbane this weekend would be "huge" as both teams were coming off disappointing losses.

South Africa were well beaten by France last month.

"The South Africans are going to want to start the competition with a bang," Hansen said.

"They'll rate themselves as a forward pack and I'd say they'll try and bash 'em up front. It's going to be another big night for the Australian forward pack."

- NZPA