Andrew Slack: Rubbish All Blacks? Pull the other one

You lot must think we lot are pretty thick if you reckon we'll fall for the old "this All Blacks team is rubbish" line.

"All Blacks" and "rubbish" are mutually exclusive terms and, even if the 2009 version are yet to display any red-hot form, the fact the Wallabies haven't won a Test match in Auckland for the best part of a quarter of a century adds some sobriety to any unwarranted optimism from Australians.

Just by the way, the Wallabies build up hasn't been exactly glittering either. A workmanlike efficiency might be the best description, and the Italians and a slightly fatigued-looking French side is not exactly New Zealand at Eden Park.

What happens tonight is likely to bear very little connection to all this year's yesterdays.

I seem to recall a lambasted New Zealand team coming into the corresponding match last year and demonstrating that poor form can be temporary.

The All Blacks will be up a number of notches and I get the sense Robbie Deans has also been keeping some powder dry. Our European visitors didn't see all the Wallaby cards and whether or not an opening Bledisloe Cup game at an unfriendly venue will be the time and place for the unveiling of the whole deck remains to be seen.

As ever with this Australian team, it's Matt Giteau who is the ace holder and none of the match-ups across the field count for as much as a settled number 10. We can forensically analyse the front and back row battles and still come up with very little, but should one side have a slight edge in momentum over the 80 minutes, it usually all comes down to how the first five-eighth guides the ship.

Giteau has navigated carefully enough through pretty steady seas in the opening internationals of the season. He's played a territory game. Slightly old-school, but effective.

There'll be bigger waves crashing around tonight and I sense it might bring the adventurer out in him. I don't imagine he'll be running the ball back from behind his own tryline every time, but he'll be looking for some fun. The All Blacks aren't generally great funsters, but Giteau appears to be the type who likes to do what's least expected.

New Zealand selectors have had to do some tossing and turning at number 10. I like watching Stephen Donald play, but he's not Dan Carter and if there's one thing that's stood out this year, it is that the All Blacks are missing Carter. Not so much his brilliance as his composure. Rather than a lack of mongrel in the All Black pack being the ingredient most absent this year, it's been the lack of steady decision-making and control of a game's tempo.

So it's Giteau with his head in front of Donald for me that could be the determining factor.

Either way, for the sake of supporters of rugby played well, rather than one-eyed All Black or Wallaby fans, I hope Craig Joubert is the man who exerts most influence tonight.

Usually we want the referees to have as little say as possible but too many games this year have been stifled by referees who refuse to police the offside line at the ruck and maul.

Whistles are blown for every other conceivable reason but for the one which is most likely to allow good rugby to be played. Get players back where they belong and, if in doubt, blow the pea out of the whistle until they cotton on.

Give the Giteaus and Donalds the space the laws say they deserve and good luck to whoever takes best advantage.

* Andrew Slack was the last Wallaby captain to win a test match at Eden Park.