KEY POINTS:
It's not hard to tell which piece of rugby silverware has the All Blacks' pulses racing most ahead of Saturday's showdown with the Wallabies here.
A draw at Eden Park will be enough for New Zealand to retain their Tri-Nations title but they'll need to win to prevent the Bledisloe Cup crossing the Tasman to Australia for the first time since 2003.
Judging by the war stories being bandied around the All Blacks' camp this week, it is clear the latter is a scenario that would sting to the core.
Six of New Zealand's starting 15 have been involved in unsuccessful bids to win the Cup off Australia and some have spoken about it this week to the bulk of the squad who have known nothing but success since their Eden Park triumph four years ago.
The most vocal has been veteran hooker Anton Oliver, the only person playing when the Wallabies wrenched the prize in 1998 and began their five-year reign of terror.
Fullback Mils Muliaina said the reminiscing of Oliver and the arrival of the Cup at the team hotel yesterday had helped to focus the minds.
"The older heads have all spoken of how long to get it back and those dying moments when they've lost it," Muliaina said.
"Just to give us a reminder how much it hurt when we lost it and how much it hurt those guys to try and get it back and how long it took."
All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith was unaware the players had been discussing the Bledisloe Cup and found it "reassuring".
Smith's test debut against the Wallabies in 1980 was a 9-13 loss and the memories of gold jumpers parading the silverware around the Sydney Cricket Ground still hurt.
Smith was later involved in 2-1 series wins in 1982 and 1984, with the latter a career highlight as there was no World Cup on offer at the time.
"To me, and I think to a lot of the players at the time, that was one of the World Cups you played for. It was hugely significant."
Smith, who was All Blacks head coach in 2000-01 when the All Blacks were twice narrowly repelled in bids to win back the Bledisloe Cup, said it was important not to get too bogged down in history.
"This is a new era, a new legacy, these are highly motivated people who care about what they're doing."
Wallabies veteran George Gregan said the Wallabies had been frustrated not to have hold of the prize in recent seasons as there was little dividing the great rivals.
Getting on top in the last 20 minutes of last month's win at Melbourne provided a boost to his team, said Gregan, who has missed just one of the last 26 Bledisloe Cup tests.
"Both teams are aware there's not much between the two teams, particularly over the last couple of years," he said.
"It'll be another match that comes down to the last 15-20 minutes, maybe even the last 10 minutes. Whoever's ahead then will look to close the game out."
- NZPA
