Referee Matthieu Raynal signals a penalty as Australia's Bernard Foley looks on during the first Bledisloe Cup match between the Wallabies and the All Blacks in Melbourne. Photo / Scott Barbour, Photosport
Referee Matthieu Raynal signals a penalty as Australia's Bernard Foley looks on during the first Bledisloe Cup match between the Wallabies and the All Blacks in Melbourne. Photo / Scott Barbour, Photosport
Let's start with the good news: Bledisloe II comes with a home crowd, and the weird hoodoo for Australia that is Eden Park (for more on that, see Cameron McMillan's excellent guide here).
In short, the Wallabies haven't beaten the All Blacks at Eden Park since 1986 -a stretch of 22 tests.
Now for the bad news: All Blacks skipper Sam Cane is out, as are Scott Barrett, David Havili and Quinn Tupaea.
Sam Whitelock will lead a side which has welcomed No. 8 Ardie Savea back from parental leave. He'll take his place in a loose forward trio featuring Dalton Papali'i at openside flanker and Akira Ioane on the blindside.
Jordie Barrett will play second-five eighths, while brother Beauden will stay at fullback.
The front row sees experienced hooker Codie Taylor selected in the run-on side, while Samisoni Taukei'aho will provide cover alongside props Ofa Tu'ungafasi and Nepo Laulala.
So that's that. Given last week's miracle last-minute victory, All Blacks coach Ian Foster probably won't be sleeping soundly on Friday night.
Liam Napier was at Bledisloe I, and he has thoughts. We asked him to swing by this morning to share those thoughts and answer any questions you have ahead of Saturday's kick-off.
