Favorites New Zealand have seemed at loss of action only once in this tournament; first half against Argentina. However, the All Blacks have such a balanced team and such formidability in their back half that Australia (Wallabies) know they are chewing the bullet as their 16th October semifinal approaches.
Australia has been a cropper against New Zealand at Auckland for 25 years now. New Zealand will just require not getting complacent and learn their mistakes from last world cup campaign when they exited early. Richie McCaw, their sensational No. 7 might be carrying an injury and be facing strong counterpart opposition in David Pocock, but Richie is still more than a handful.
Ma’a Nonu, Kieran Reed and Conrad smith have each had their glory time in this commendable world cup which New Zealand also happens to host. Their hero, meanwhile is Piri Weepu, who scored seven penalties out of eight tries, and fans are even crying at him being a Prime Ministerial candidate. John Keys might be feeling the bumps under his chair.
Their usual penalty striker Dan Carter is out of service and Weepu has filled in adroitly. New Zealand realizes that Australia is perhaps quite weak in penetration due to their crumbling forward scrum. New Zealand has been seen to pick its game in the second half and scored two intelligent and brilliant tries against Argentina to leave them all but buried.
Australian Prime Minister has already exchanged shirt with Keys and each has promised to eat the winning country’s apples as a note of cordiality. However, one can expect a row of tirades thrown in from the home crowd if Wallabies steal a march. There is clearly no love lost between these neighbors on Rugby front.
Graham Henry, the New Zealand coach is not losing his sleep over the match and is sure to have found some chink in Aussie armor, which they prominently showed in their loss against Ireland.
