Rugby: Michael Cheika's bizarre Bledisloe Cup scheme: Wallabies' new Waiheke Island base

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, well aware his side haven't won at Eden Park since 1986, has planned a left-field approach to breaking the curse next weekend; from Sunday he and his side will be based at Waiheke Island - home to only two rugby fields.

The All Blacks, who have held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003, play the Wallabies at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on Saturday before the old enemy make the trip over the ditch in the return match.

Cheika, a self-made millionaire through his clothing businesses, isn't scared to go against the prevailing fashion in order to gain an advantage – although this one is likely to raise eyebrows as usually the only sightings of wallabies on islands in the Hauraki Gulf are the small-or mid-sized macropod variety closely related to the kangaroo.

International rugby teams are generally creatures of habit and like visiting the same hotels – the All Blacks are sticking with the Intercontinental Hotel in Sydney's plush Double Bay despite the Spygate controversy of two years ago – but Cheika, obviously eager to try something very different, is changing things up in a big way with a stint from Sunday to Thursday on Waiheke, a 35-minute ferry journey from Auckland's CBD, and a place which possesses only one five-star hotel. It's understood that on Thursday they will travel to an inner-city hotel.

Waiheke Island. Photo / Herald Archive

The training facilities on the island, home to only about 10,000 residents, are other factors. The Wallabies, who will travel with 31 players plus 15 support staff, need a large gym with suitable weights, plus an appropriate rugby pitch to train on.

A Waikahe Island Rugby Club spokesman confirmed to the Herald he had been in conversations with Wallabies representatives, but declined to say for sure whether the team would train at his club's main ground at Onetangi Sports Park.

For the Wallabies, Eden Park is becoming a real issue; a place where the All Blacks generally perform extremely well – they haven't lost there since 1994 (to France), although they were held to a 15-all draw there in the third and deciding test last year by the British & Irish Lions.

And it is a place where the visitors do not perform especially well, a place, indeed, where they have lost 17 times in a row to the All Blacks.

They nearly beat the All Blacks in the return Bledisloe test last year in Dunedin, only for the home side to win it 35-29 in the final minutes thanks to a converted Beauden Barrett try, and green and gold hearts would have sunk when the draw was announced for this year.

Two years ago the Australian newspaper looked into the records of five Wallabies legends at the ground in the shadow of Mt Eden: Phil Kearns, John Eales, Tim Horan, George Gregan and Steve Larkham.

Kearns played 67 tests in total and never won at Eden Park - nor did Eales (86 tests), Horan (80), Gregan (139) or Larkham (102).

"Collectively, those five Wallabies legends played a total of 19 tests against the All Blacks at their Auckland stronghold — admittedly some of them overlapping — and never once tasted success," the Australian reported.

Eales told the newspaper he was flummoxed by one of the most famous hoodoos in Australian sport.

"I can't answer that," he replied, when asked about the Wallabies' dismal record there.

Horan said by way of a possible explanation: "It's not a typical rugby oval. At Suncorp Stadium or ANZ, you know where the sidelines are but at Eden Park you're never instinctively sure."

AUSTRALIA'S HORROR RECORD V THE ALL BLACKS AT EDEN PARK

• Since their first game at the ground in 1925, the Wallabies have won just four of 28 games against the All Blacks at Eden Park.

• Their last win at Eden Park was in September 1986 – a 22-9 victory.

• Since then, they have lost 17 straight games against the All Blacks.

• This decade has been the worst one yet – losing by margins of 16, 14, 22, 31, 28 and 27 points in their six trans-Tasman clashes.

• The Wallabies have also not scored more than 20 points against the All Blacks at Eden Park since August 2006.