McCaw predicts Deans plan

By Bret Harris

September 13, 2008

NEW Zealand captain Richie McCaw has a sneaking suspicion Australia will try to run the All Blacks off their feet in the Tri-Nations decider in Brisbane.

The obvious clue is the five/two split between forwards and backs on the Australian reserves bench.

If you count second-rower/blindside flanker Hugh McMeniman as a backrower, the Wallabies will have three loose forwards in reserve, including openside flanker Phil Waugh and No.8 Richard Brown.

And if McMeniman replaces Nathan Sharpe or James Horwill in the second row, Australia will effectively finish the Test with four backrowers in the pack, including three pairs of fresh legs.

McCaw, who was Deans' captain at the Crusaders, knows better than anyone that the last 20 minutes of the match figure prominently in his former mentor's game plan.

Unlike the All Blacks' 39-10 win against the Wallabies in Auckland more than a month ago, which was marked by New Zealand's dominance of the lineout, Saturday night's Test will be decided at the breakdown, just as it was in Sydney when Australia prevailed 34-19 against the McCaw-less Kiwis.

Clearly, Deans is planning to send fresh legs into the game to run the All Blacks, and especially the highly influential McCaw, ragged in the last quarter.

"Fresh legs is the main thing you can take out of that," McCaw said of the Wallabies' five/two split.

"When guys start to tire you can bring guys off the bench that will add. I'm sure that's what they will have up their sleeve. At the end of the day, you can only have three on the field at once."

McCaw is a talismanic figure, but the Wallabies now have two equally influential players in their backrow, openside flanker George Smith and blindside flanker Rocky Elsom, who has overcome a bout of the flu to take his place in the team.

Australia missed the injured Elsom in Auckland as much as the All Blacks missed McCaw in Sydney.

"He (Elsom) is a big part of their team obviously," McCaw said. "He is a good lineout player and I think the energy he brings ... the whole team gets inspiration from that.

"I'm sure they will be happy to have him back and it will be up to us to make sure he doesn't have the influence he can have."

But it will be McCaw's head-to-head clash with Smith, his main challenger to the mantle of the world's best No.7, which will be so decisive.

"It's always the way when you play against quality flankers. They can be a menace if you allow them to be," McCaw said.

"I don't mean that's one guy looking after one fella. It's the whole team imposing what you want to do on the game and that can often nullify guys who have influence."

McCaw was alluding to the fact that the influence of the respective backrows will be determined to a large extent by the battle up front between the tight fives.

"A lot of what goes on there (the breakdown) depends on how you go at set phase and whether you are going backwards or forwards to it," McCaw said. "If you are going back, you can have a hellava day there, but if you are going forward, it becomes a lot easier.

"What happens at the breakdown will depend on how our set piece goes and whether we are going forward or back to it."

New Zealand coach Graham Henry said the sudden-death rugby the All Blacks had played in their past two Tests against the Wallabies and Springboks had honed the team for the decider.

"They had to stay alive for the last three games," Henry said. "If we had lost to Australia in Auckland or South Africa in Cape Town, we were history.

" I think they are experienced enough and well led enough to keep their feet on the floor and make sure we build for the right time."


McCaw predicts Deans plan - Tri-Nations - Fox Sports