‘Forsyth Barr surface a boost’ – Retallick

Editor

The Forsyth Barr Stadium ensures that sides know what they are going to get and is a venue designed for attacking rugby. %u200B

That was the word from All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick ahead of Saturday's third Test against Wales in Dunedin.

Should he be selected, as he put it, Retallick will be playing his 50th Test at the weekend and he said the five years since running onto Eden Park for his debut had gone quickly.

Among the changes he'd gone through as a player in that time he said he would like to think he was more game smart and that he had developed as a player from where he was.

He thought the game had got faster and the skill sets were higher.

"Teams string a lot of phases together and with the forwards ability to offload and catch and pass these days I think the speed of the game is probably a bit quicker," Retallick told the All Blacks website.

But the knowledge they would play on a dry track on Saturday was an incentive to push for a 'blackwash' over the Welsh.

"We pride ourselves on always finishing strongly and playing until the 80th minute so for us knowing that it's going to be a dry track and we can keep attacking is exciting," added the 25-year-old.