A resurgent New Zealand are overwhelming favourites to retain The Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup, but Eddie Jones‘ Australia will be desperate to throw a spanner in the works in the final round of the former competition.
Australia and New Zealand meet at 10:45am BST at Melbourne Cricket Ground, only the fourth time the two sides will meet at the 100,124 capacity stadium that will play host to a Lions test for the first time in 2025.
If New Zealand win, they will wrap up their a third consecutive Rugby Championship title and a fourth if the 2020 Tri Nations series is included. They will also continue their hold over the Bledisloe Cup, which Australia have not held since 2002, when Eddie Jones was at the helm in his first spell.
For Australia, defeat will consign them to the bottom of the table for the first time in the history of the competition having four teams – as it has since 2012 – and will end any hopes of South Africa snatching the title away from New Zealand for the first time since 2019.
Australia vs New Zealand (29 July, 10:45am BST)
Things have not started well for Eddie Jones in his second spell as Wallabies coach. Following a thumping defeat at the hands of a much-changed South Africa in his opening game, a deserved home defeat to Argentina came next and with a Bledisloe double to come against the All Blacks and a fixture against France to finish their warm-ups, there is no guarantee he’ll avoid going into the World Cup five defeats from as many games.
The knives have already begun to come out for the former England boss and though he has had some strong results against New Zealand, he has not had a winning record against the All Blacks in any of the international jobs he has held.
But he was typically bullish in his pre-match press conference, and looked to put pressure on the World Cup favourites ahead of a game expected to be seen by 85,000 fans.
“There’s nothing better than winning against New Zealand because you’re feeling the country sinking,” Jones said on Friday.
“It’s not just rugby that sinks, the country sinks. The whole economy goes down.
“My history against New Zealand is important. It’s always the biggest game – you’re playing against the best in the world. When you’re playing against them, not many people think you can win, so that’s the opportunity for us.
“We’re developing, we’re moving along a pathway, but can we put the Kiwis under pressure on Saturday? Yes, under a lot of pressure – and maybe they’re going to get a bit of a surprise. We’re ready to go. We’ll see what happens.”
Jones has made seven changes to the side, the headline of which sees Carter Gordon come in for a first start at fly-half.
He is joined in an all-new half-back pairing by Tate McDermott, with Jordan Petaia joining Samu Kerevi in the centre and Andrew Kellaway coming in at full-back
Last week’s captain James Slipper is replaced by Angus Bell at loosehead prop, with tighthead Allan Alaalatoa assuming the role of skipper, while youngster Tom Hooper makes his second appearance at openside flanker and Nick Frost joins the in-form Will Skelton in the second row.
New Zealand make just one change, enforced by Sam Cane’s neck injury. Dalton Papali’i takes his place at openside flanker, with Ardie Savea assuming the captaincy.
Savea could lift The Rugby Championship trophy on Saturday, knowing a win or draw will be enough for New Zealand to seal the title.
But his highly-motivated chargers are wary of the threat posed by the Wallabies despite their opposition’s poor start to the tournament thus far.
“The Bledisloe means so much not only to the All Blacks, but the whole of New Zealand, so a lot is on the line,” Savea said.
“We know that, we feel that, we harness that. We have used that as fuel and energy this week and hopefully on Saturday.”
“We know they are going to come out firing and we know they can throw something at us that we haven’t seen before.
“The great challenge for us is having to adapt fast to the game and that’s something that we’ve talked about.”
South Africa vs Argentina (29 July, 4:05pm)
The second and final game of the concluding round has been somewhat overshadowed by its predecessor, but that is largely because it will only gain major importance if New Zealand are to lose in Melbourne.
South Africa make a whopping nine changes for the game in a competition where they are continuing to experiment, with Grant Williams getting his first start at scrum-half as he continues to fight for a place in the World Cup along with four other number nines.
Malcolm Marx comes in at hooker while Marvin Orie replaces Lood De Jager in the second row while an all new back row sees Marco Van Staden, Pieter-Steph Du Toit and Duane Vermeulen come in, with the latter taking the captaincy.
As Neil de Kock called for in last week’s paper, Manie Libbok gets the nod at fly-half, and the final changes see Jess Kriel join Damian De Allende in the centre and Kurt-Lee Arendse feature on the left wing.
“It will be a bit emotional on Saturday,” admitted Nienaber, as the clash with Los Pumas will be his last international on home soil before leaving his post after the global showpiece.
“The key for us is to balance performing, building and getting momentum, we want to spread as many minutes as we have across the squad.”
Los Pumas make five changes, with one change in the pack for the match at Ellis Park, as lock Lucas Paulos replaces Matias Alemanno.
In the back three Juan Cruz Mallia, and his namesake Imhoff come in at full-back and on the wing (with Matteo Carreras moving to the right), while centre Santiago Chocobares and scrum-half Lautaro Bazan Velez complete the changes in the backline.
With South Africa making so many changes, Argentina boss Michael Cheika admitted: “Everyone is charting a different course,” and that it would be difficult to glean much from the contest.
But he will still be hoping for the prospect of a first win for Argentina in South Africa since 2015, and a first finish in the top two since they joined the tournament as the fourth team in 2012.
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