Rugby: Wallabies must get more aggressive - former skipper

Nick Phipps of the Australian Wallabies celebrates winning the Rugby Championship match between the Australian Wallabies and Argentina. Photo / Getty Images.

Former captain Tony Shaw has urged Australia to adopt the aggressive approach that earned his breakthrough 1970s side the Step Forward Wallabies tag if they are to finally topple the All Blacks in Brisbane on Saturday night.

Shaw - who on Wednesday was inducted into the Wallabies Hall of Fame along with Geoff Shaw - said his team earned the nickname after their hard-nosed approach helped them step out of the shadow of the dominant sides of the 1970s.

And he said it was the only way the Wallabies could turn the tables in the Bledisloe clash at Suncorp Stadium against the world champion All Blacks, who are chasing a record 17th straight Test win since losing last year's Tri-Nations decider in Brisbane.

"The step forward approach is a mental attitude - it is almost a take no prisoners attitude which we employed at the time," said Shaw, who played 36 Tests from 1973 to 1982 and captained the Wallabies 15 times.

"It is about a physical game. It is about dominating every phase of the play. The All Blacks have led the way in that.

"It is very much a mental game and we have to have that Step Forward Wallaby attitude again absolutely."

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans - searching for just his fourth win over the All Blacks in 18 trans-Tasman Tests - has made a move in that direction by injecting enforcer Wycliff Palu into the pack after a 16-week injury layoff.

Not that Shaw had seen the current Wallabies back down against New Zealand.

"Even when we were beaten 22-0 (at Eden Park), there was no lack of courage, commitment or determination in that game," he said.

"There needs to be that burning desire to win every game and contest. It is really important the players engender that."

But Geoff Shaw - who played 27 Tests including nine as captain from 1969-79 - understood how dominant teams could earn a mental edge over others.

"The dominance of a team can be fairly overpowering," he said.

"You get into a situation where you just try to reduce the score.

"It is possible to look at the opposition and be overawed by them but I am not denigrating this (Wallabies) team at all."

Tony and Geoff Shaw - no relation - join pre-World War II Wallabies halfback and ex-NSW Rugby Union president Francis "Wally" Meagher as the Hall of Fame inductees for 2012.

-AAP