A paranoid Australian rugby media have raised safety issues for the Wallabies at Eden Park if they beat the All Blacks there on Sunday.
A win would be a breakthrough for the resurgent Wallabies who haven’t won on the ground since 1986. It would also see them put one hand on the Bledisloe Cup after last weekend’s draw in Wellington with the series set to cross the Tasman for the other two tests.
So could there be a public backlash? Certainly Auckland crowds aren’t always kind to Australian sporting teams – the Kangaroos and cricketers have copped abuse there and former Wallabies star Quade Cooper was a favourite target for the Eden Park faithful – but the tabloid approach at news.com four days out from this juicy sequel appears a bit of a stretch.
“The Wallabies will have to keep their wits about them if they achieve the unthinkable and beat the All Blacks at Eden Park amid concerns it could trigger an ugly reaction across the Tasman,” they reported on Thursday.
“It has been 34 years since the All Blacks lost to Australia at Auckland’s notoriously hostile cauldron but the Kiwis are suddenly under intense pressure to maintain their winning streak.”
They noted last week’s draw “happened against the backdrop of relations between the Australian and New Zealand rugby boards sinking to an all-time low after months of public bickering so emotions are running high”.
They felt the Kiwis were being fired up by Australian reaction to the first test that included Wallabies great David Campese claiming the All Blacks had lost their aura.
They noted the “abuse” Aussie teams had previously encountered at Eden Park.
“Wallaby players and team staff [were] pelted with a water bottle and heckled by rabid New Zealand supporters as recently as last year. And that was after the All Blacks won 36-0 and the crowd was supposedly happy!”
The article stated that New Zealand police will provide the Australians with escorts to and from their Auckland hotel to the stadium – which is standard practice – and claim “the players are already bracing for a nasty backlash on the field”.
There was more sense in news.com’s article with former Wallabies centre and current Rugby Australia board member Daniel Herbert who tried to play down the “mystique” of the All Blacks at Eden Park which has become their fortress.
He noted the recent struggles of the Blues and Auckland teams at their home ground and felt that should be no different.
“There are certain grounds around the world where the hometown advantage seems to work, but it didn’t work for a lot of years for Auckland as a province,” Herbert said.
“The All Blacks just tend to go well there, and more so they go well against us
“If you ask (then Wallabies captain) Andrew Slack what his guys did in 1986, I don’t think there’s anything different to what they did in that game to many others. They just got it right on the day.
“Our guys now have just got to get it right on the day.”
Herbert never won in Auckland with the Wallabies but claims he was never spooked by the ground.
“There is nothing different that I ever found there compared to anywhere else,” he said.
“In Wellington, you’ve got to deal with the wind, which can be a real factor but in Auckland it’s just like anywhere else.
“It doesn’t have any of those unique factors that you sometimes find.”
Herbert said it was simply a matter of the Wallabies approaching this test with “no fear”, just as they did in Wellington.
