Showdown of contrasting styles in Bledisloe decider

By WYNNE GRAY in SYDNEY

The contrast is significant. The All Blacks have established a rock-solid defence and want to move on. The Wallabies have concentrated more on attack and believe their defensive structures will follow quickly.

That is one of the fascinating paths or possibilities leading into tomorrow night's momentous Bledisloe Cup decider in Sydney.

"I think the hardest thing to develop is your attack. It takes more time, it is more complex and involves more skills," Wallaby coach Eddie Jones said yesterday.

"We have deliberately put more time into our attack than defence because we believe that you can pick up your defence quite quickly. I think the French showed that in the 1999 World Cup. If you looked at their early round-robin games they certainly had quite a poor defence but by the end of the World Cup, with Australia, they were one of the best defensive teams in the world.

"Defence is a less complex system and you can pick it up fairly quickly."

After the tryless transtasman penalty shootout in the Christchurch chill, the All Blacks scored five tries and conceded two against the Springboks. The Boks and Wallabies squared off at four tries apiece.

Jones believes the greatest threat from the All Blacks in their bid to claim the silverware for the first time since 1998 is their consistency.

All Blacks coach John Mitchell was consistent with his selections and the more Mitchell's team played, the more Jones felt they compared with the Crusaders.

"Defensively they are consistent," said.

"They have a good set pattern, they all defend well in that particular pattern, they are consistent in the way they play the ball, they play a lot of territory. They want to get the other side down their end of the field and when the opportunities avail themselves they'll use the ball.

"So we've got to match them in that consistency of the basic skills.

"What we have shown at times this year is we have played extremely well and at times we have not played well, and our big test is to be more consistent during the course of the game."

Jones did not go along with the theory that a reliable side also meant a predictable team. He felt a dependable side could also bring off greater shocks.

The Wallabies had not quite reached that level. Although attacking well, they had leaked on defence.

It was a concern but Jones said it was also a sign of a side going through another cycle in their development.



* The Australian media were left fuming and scrambling for their most scornful language yesterday when the All Blacks refused to give interviews after landing at Sydney.

A team spokesman said everyone had been alerted about the All Blacks' decision not to speak yesterday and interviews could have been arranged earlier in the week.

That excuse did not placate the media, nor did it compare favourably with the way the Wallabies and their staff stopped at Christchurch Airport for interviews before last month's start to the Tri-Nations.

Jones spoke of the responsibility he and the Wallabies felt about promoting the test through interviews.

"I think when you are involved in a sport which is high profile it is certainly an important part of a coach's job, and the players to a lesser degree, to help promote that game," he said.

"Maybe we are more conscious of it in Australia, the need to promote the game, because we're fighting for territory all the time. We are fighting with rugby league, we are fighting with AFL, we're fighting with soccer to make sure our game gets as much exposure as it can."