Genia: Australia ready for All-Blacks win

Scrum-half Will Genia believes Australia’s Tri-Nations campaign has laid the foundations for Robbie Deans’ men finally to beat New Zealand for the first time in over two years when they clash at Hong Kong Stadium tomorrow.

The Wallabies have lost the last 10 meetings to their trans-Tasman rivals – the most recent a heartbreaking 23-22 defeat in Sydney last month.

But a historic win over South Africa in Bloemfontein allied to other impressive performances in the southern hemisphere competition have given Genia hope they can end their barren run against the All Blacks in the final Bledisloe Cup game of the year.

“There’s a very good feeling around the group,” he said.

“We finished the Tri Nations well in the way we were playing and the mindset. Just go out there and do what we’ve been doing, only do it better and do it for 80 minutes.

“When you go up against the All Blacks, it’s a lot different because they’ve got the best players in the world, they deny you that front-foot ball and you have to work harder at achieving it but also be better at playing off medium and slow-placed ball.

“We’ve come a long way with that, we’ve been building throughout the Tri-Nations and we got better towards the back end.

“We concentrate on the backs taking control of the game in the last 20 minutes. The forwards work hard to lay the platform and when they’re a bit tired, we take more control. It’s all about game management and you know what to do in those situations.

“For the first 60-odd minutes (in Sydney) we controlled possession quite well, right after the break we were up 21-9 or something and we were putting them in the corners. We’ve got to do it for 80 minutes and that’s something we’ve been working on: consistency throughout the game.”

Skipper Rocky Elsom underlined the impact victory over the old enemy would have.

“Wins are always important,” he said. “You look at that win in South Africa, we came really close the week before (losing 44-31 in Pretoria) but to get over the line makes a big difference and we were able to do that in Bloemfontein.

“A win would be a massive boost.

“They’re the benchmark. It’s obvious they’re a good side so we need to be at the top of our game and be up for it for the full 80 minutes so that’s a challenge the group has embraced.

“What happens after that, it’s hard to say but as for this game we couldn’t want to win it any more.”

Fly-half Quade Cooper, meanwhile, feels the defeat in Sydney has made the squad even more determined to bounce back in Hong Kong.

“You have to bond tighter and after a loss it’s very tight. It gives you a lot more self-belief in terms of we are working towards a goal and we are improving,” he said.

“We obviously clocked off for a little bit in Sydney, which really hurt us, so working on those things in training is going to put us in good stead.”