Ian Foster fronts as All Blacks depart for Australia. Video / NZ Herald
OPINION:
Dead rubber games in a rugby test series are usually the pits.
One team doesn't care what happens, and the other is battered and beaten.
What makes Sunday's test in Perth between the All Blacks and Australia different is that there's a tiny, distant, glimmer of light for aWallabies side whose coach and union officials have, quite sensibly, stirred the pot over nasty New Zealand Rugby not doing the right thing by our cousins in the great sun-burned land across the Tasman.
Why is that sensible? Because (a) it diverts attention from the fact that in the second test the Wallabies were thrashed and embarrassed and (b) maybe, and this is much less likely, the whipped Wallabies will rise up in anger and get revenge for their Eden Park debacle.
What complicates the picture is the fact a number of All Blacks will be wanting to be on top of their games to advance and elongate their careers.
In the advance folder jot down Akira Ioane, out to prove his second-test performance wasn't a one-off. There's a giant Jerome Kaino-sized hole left in that All Black pack, and Ioane has a golden opportunity to fill it.
Add in Jordie Barrett, who for many of us will always be a better prospect at fullback rather than on the wing. Damian McKenzie is a hell of a footballer, but his best role might be the one occupied by Beauden Barrett at the 2015 World Cup: a lightning bolt off the bench when things loosen up in the second half.
There was speculation that TJ Paranara would start at halfback because of his long association with Beauden Barrett for the Canes but form, as it usually should, won out, so Brad Weber will start.
In the career-elongation column, jot down Beauden Barrett. Let's not forget that at his best Barrett hasn't been a very good player, he's been a great one, voted the best player in the world in 2016 and 2017. If he uses his experience and intelligence to not overplay his hand in Perth, the contest with Richie Mo'unga could be alive again.
Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett. Photo / Getty Images
In blunt terms it'd be weird if the All Blacks didn't win. Even with Aaron Smith and Sam Whitelock out, they should be the better team.
It can be dangerous writing off a team before a third test when they've already lost the first two. Many, many years ago a dumb New Zealand writer (okay it was me) arrogantly suggested that "whatever happens in the third test, this tour of New Zealand by the Wallabies has been a dismal failure."
The Aussies had been belted in the second test, and their poor coach Darryl Harbrecht was in hospital after a heart attack. It was 1978 but I still cringe a little remembering how stupid the Wallabies made that snide remark look when they won 30-16 at Eden Park with Greg Cornelson scoring four tries.
So now I'll just defer to the TAB odds makers, people to whom a cheap shot is not as important as losing big to keen punters, and leave you to decide who is likely to win. The TAB has the All Blacks at $1.14 to win, with Australia at $5.70.
Andrew Kellaway and the Wallabies could still have reason to celebrate. Photo / Photosport
Sophie Pascoe always carried herself with such grace I may not have been the only person who thought her astonishing international record was largely the result of extraordinary natural talent.
Like Peter Snell she'd win with what seemed like ease. The highest step of the medal dais felt like a space she was born to occupy.
Tokyo this week has shown us that behind that poised, apparently untroubled exterior is a woman who, as my father's generation used to say, you'd want alongside you in the trenches.
Face-to-face she has a polite, gentle manner. But, as we all saw in the final of the individual 200 metres medley, when winning in the pool needs a bare knuckled, back-street brawling, fearless ability to smash through pain thresholds, she can make UFC fighters look just a little effete.
Pascoe, as Snell was, is blessed with huge abilities. What I discovered at these Paralympics is that even someone as gifted as Pascoe can struggle if, as happened with her, she couldn't complete the usual long, demanding preparation.
There's never been a more graphic illustration of courage from a New Zealand athlete that the shots of an ashen-faced Pascoe beside the pool after her gold medal swim for a fourth gold in a painfully-demanding event.
As difficult as it would have been to imagine two weeks ago, having observed the grit that she's shown in Tokyo, it's impossible to not admire Sophie Pascoe even more than I already did.
