Gregor Paul: The Caleb Clarke bluff - revealing the All Blacks' 'real' Bledisloe plan

OPINION:

The All Blacks won't mind at all that the Wallabies will be preoccupied in Sydney about trying to shut down Caleb Clarke.

The big wing is obviously problematic, capable, as he showed in Auckland, of crunching his way through tackles and creating space in the wider areas of the field.

But this test might be the one where Clarke plays more of a decoy role – where the threat he poses proves more valuable than the reality.

There's firstly an element of probability to consider. The Wallabies were hit by something they didn't understand at Eden Park but now that they do, they will be smart enough to combat the threat Clarke poses.

The All Blacks can't just turn up and believe they can throw the ball to their young wing and he'll do the rest again.

But the more pertinent reason Clarke's role will change is because the All Blacks will have their eye on punishing Australia in a much different area of the field this time.

Fate has conspired to injure two of Australia's most senior inside backs James O'Connor and Matt Toomua and the two young men coming into replace them may indeed have all the potential to be future Wallaby superstars, but come Saturday night, they will be enormously vulnerable as all new men to the test arena are.

It would seem unlikely that the All Blacks will overlook the opportunity they have to target the uncapped Noah Lolesio and Irae Simone, who will respectively be playing at No 10 and No 12.

It is an extraordinary show of faith by Wallabies coach Dave Rennie to inject two rookies into such key positions in such a big game.

There's no doubt there will be a long-term reward in backing those two now. They both caught the eye of All Blacks coach Ian Foster in Super Rugby and in time, could become regular fixtures in a young team that seems destined to grow throughout this World Cup cycle into quite an imposing unit.

All Blacks winger Caleb Clarke during the 2nd Bledisloe Cup test match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Australia - Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

But as much as this brave call may bring significant reward down the track, it carries significant risk in the shorter term.

The shorter term being Saturday night where two uncapped players being thrown into a critical Bledisloe Cup fixture has potential to be the equivalent of putting an egg in a microwave.

The Wallabies 10-12 axis may become a strength, but on Saturday night it will be viewed as a weakness and a targeted area the All Blacks will look to exploit.

So if the Wallabies are indeed fretting about pushing wide to jump on Clarke before he gets going, they run the risk of inviting Jack Goodhue to do what he did so well in Auckland and charge at Lolesio to see if he can tackle.

There won't be anything subtle about this, because there doesn't need to be. The All Blacks first try at Eden Park came on the back of Goodhue running a straight line directly off a scrum where he simply asked O'Connor if he was brave enough to put his shoulder into the tackle.

Clearly Matt Toomua, who was playing No 12 for the Wallabies, didn't think O'Connor was, so he committed to the tackle as well and as the Wallabies scrambled right to cover the hole that had been made by two men committing to one tackle, Aaron Smith dived left into the empty space to score.

All Black Caleb Clarke in action during the second Australia vs New Zealand Bledisloe Cup Rugby test match played at Eden Park in Auckland. Photo / Peter Meecham.

Direct, physical rugby caused havoc and that was with two enormously experienced players in the Wallaby No 10 and No 12 jerseys and what Rennie has done in picking Lolesio and Simone in tandem, is provide the perfect opportunity to assess the ability of All Blacks coach Ian Foster to devise an effective strategic plan to make the most of what has to be seen as low hanging fruit.

He's been clear since taking the job and reiterated again in naming his team for Sydney, that it's a priority to deliver improved ball carrying that takes the All Backs over the gainline.

With the Wallabies having an obvious area of vulnerability, Foster has a chance to derive a plan that enables not only Goodhue to be used more as a direct runner rather than distributor, but to also harness the size and athleticism of Shannon Frizell and Hoskins Sotutu.

It is in theory a relatively task – to build a gameplan that isolates Lolesio and Simone on defence and force them to continually have to make decisions while simultaneously testing their bravery in having to tackle powerful All Blacks ball carriers.

That's why Clarke has to be a bluff this week. The Wallabies will have worked on all sorts of ways to stop him getting the ball and to have numbers on him if he does.