All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock is using New Zealand's last Test loss to Australia as motivation to beat the Wallabies in Saturday's Bledisloe Cup clash in Brisbane.
That Test, which was played at the Suncorp Stadium 14 months ago, ended with the Wallabies winning 25-20 which also secured them the Tri-Nations title.
"I played the whole game and it's not nice to lose in the black jersey," Whitelock told Sportal.
"Losing to Aussie in Aussie hurts a bit more.
"A few of the guys in the present squad played that game so we're looking forward to getting over there and trying to right that wrong."
During that loss the All Blacks were hampered by injuries which forced players to chop and change their positions.
"That didn't help at all but a number of things didn't quite go our way," added Whitelock.
"The breakdown was quite slow and they scored a couple of long-range tries which didn't help."
Although the All Blacks won the two previous matches against the Wallabies convincingly Whitelock is not taking them lightly.
"You can never write them off even if they put out their 10th side," he said.
"They've got great depth across the board and will definitely be a challenge."
Comments
side_stepper says...
Well well..the pyschological game before the actual game! No matter what, there are 22 against 22 so there's always a chance..IMHO all the wallabies can do is enter the match with the right attitude!
Posted 21:24 19th October 2012
new_j4a says...
@heart_of_oak, "No shit Sherlock" as Shakespeare used to say....you're really going right out on a limb there with that prediction....have you thought about doing predictions professionally?
Posted 18:11 19th October 2012
TheTruthHurts says...
ha ha sorry Sam nice try in attempting to talk up OZ's prospects in this game, I know us Aussie's always will give our all even if it means we have next to no chance which is about all that encourages me about this game!
Revenge, well mate you've had it twice already this year, and will more than likely taste it a 3rd time.
This is a really depressing time to be a Wallaby supporter, i really hope ALL the injured players are all back by next years Lions tour!
Posted 10:43 19th October 2012
heart_of_oak says...
The statement 'They've got great depth across the board' is one I can't agree with just at the moment. I think this is Australia's biggest current problem and one of the reasons why their win in Argentina was so impressive. They have a number of very good players all out injured and I think the replacements are not as good as the injured players.
It seems to me that this is a but of Alex Feguson style kidology from Whitelock, lulling the opposition into a false sense of optimism and a counter to any complacency in the AB camp.
My view is quite honestly that NZ will win this.
Posted 09:03 19th October 2012