Robin Brooke: All Blacks ready to settle old score

All right, all right, I confess. I have carried some guilt about the absence of the Bledisloe Cup for the past five years although I expect tonight's All Blacks to regain the transtasman bragging rights.

I was one of the 1998 mob which relinquished the famous trophy at Christchurch that year, a game which was Walter Little's 50th and last and also turned out to be the final test for our incredible loose forward Michael Jones.

I remember the match too well. We were quite badly beaten and Wallaby lock Tom Bowman scored a famous try when he beat Jonah Lomu and bashed his way to the line.

It didn't get any better in Sydney when we were beaten in the third Bledisloe for our fifth straight defeat that season.

It has been a long wait but I believe this All Black side is good enough, it has enough confidence, intelligent players and a mix of youth and experience to combat the Wallabies.

The visitors can turn around the performance they produced in Sydney but it will be tough because the Wallabies are not the team they used to be.

They have a lot of very good players but some of their world-class men have just slipped a little in their standards.

They miss someone like John Eales who was masterful and admittedly the sort of player who only comes along once every 50 years. He had a great presence, he controlled the pace of the game and he had a huge amount of respect.

The depth in Australian rugby is not as strong as it is in New Zealand and it gets exposed when they lose a few to injuries.

However, this Eden Park international is another night test and those conditions tend to make matches closer.

Looking at the All Blacks, though, they have made consistent progress, they look too complete for the Wallabies to be a threat.

The danger comes from some of their individuals who can make things happen.

In recent times they have had any number of standout players. Eales naturally and others like David Campese, Garrick Morgan, Phil Kearns, Nick Farr-Jones, Tim Horan and Jason Little.

Some might find Morgan an interesting choice but he was a huge lock, he took up space in the lineout well and I always found him hard to deal with.

One of the most enjoyable series I ever played in, even though we lost, was against the Wallabies in 1992. At the end of three tests we had both scored the same number of points but the Aussies shaded us 2-1.

Another great match against them was in 1995 after the World Cup when we won 34-23 and Jonah continued his superb form when he played a huge part in our victory.

Sadly, I don't think he will make it to this year's World Cup but you have to admire his courage in coming back from his illness. A couple of outsiders may be Troy Flavell, Ron Cribb or Andrew Mehrtens, but I'm not too sure if they have done enough.

My only concern watching last week's win in Dunedin was the thought that England would have given the All Blacks a tickle up in those conditions.

They would have been far more clinical than the Springboks, they would have pushed and squeezed harder all match, kicked their goals and that is why we can't get too carried away with the All Black success.

The Tri-Nations and hopefully the Bledisloe Cup would be great but such triumphs do not necessarily project to the World Cup.


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