Andrew Slack: Raising performance vital for last Tri-Nations game

Will Genia heads the Wallabies' new generation under Robbie Deans. Photo / Getty Images

There's no need for a silverware display on the sidelines in Wellington tomorrow night.

The fate and whereabouts of the Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations Trophy for the next 12 months are already known, so it seems to be all about simply winning a single footy game - a task at which neither side has been particularly consistent or effective over the past couple of months.

There is the sub-plot of a wooden spoon battle, but while no one wants to come third of three, I'd be surprised if both teams aren't more concerned about elevating their quality of performance from where it's been so far in the tournament.

Could this possibly be one of those very rare occasions when the coaches and players would rather be involved in a high-quality contest and lose, than show no visible improvement from what's gone before but end up on the right side of the scoreboard? No, I don't think so either.

Competitiveness runs too deeply within, but in the grand scheme of things, you could mount an argument that for the future health of both teams they might just get more out of playing well and losing than muddling along to an unsatisfying victory.

Happily, from an Australian perspective, the Wallabies go into the game with some momentum and a limited amount of pressure, while the All Blacks have very little momentum and plenty of pressure.

It's not often fair nor accurate, but the reality of today's world is that you are perceived to be only as good as your last performance and to that end the Wallabies are on better footing than their opponents.

Both have played the Springboks on their own home soil in the past fortnight and if you think that tells all about what will unfold in Wellington, then I don't know why New Zealand supporters would turn up.

The Wallabies played like a team on the rise while the All Blacks played with a most uncharacteristic uncertainty, and that's without even mentioning the lineout.

It's been an unusual tournament. New Zealand have got out of jail twice and Australia have locked themselves in three times, and while the All Blacks selectors keep shuffling the deck chairs, it seems Robbie Deans and his panel may have eventually worked out who makes up their most effective 22.

Despite the dangers of expressing opinions on the basis of a single match, there was something about the Suncorp Stadium win over South Africa which has Wallaby supporters optimistic that there may be some blue sky ahead.

How the young brigade that was behind much of that optimism play against the All Blacks will tell whether we are getting ahead of ourselves.

If, by full-time tomorrow night, we Aussies are boasting that Tatafa Polota-Nau, David Pocock, Will Genia and James O'Connor have confirmed their promise by putting solid test matches back-to-back, there's every chance the scoreboard will favour the visitors.

Genia was arguably the main key to the Wallabies' improvement a fortnight ago, but his game will have been analysed by Graham Henry and his staff, so there'll be no offer of a saloon passage.

They'll all be asked questions they perhaps haven't had to answer before, but there's a calmness about all four which suggests they are all born for the battle.

While the All Black ranks are still trying to work out who's who in their zoo, Australia might have already discovered a few players who are going to help deliver consistent results in the years to come.

* Andrew Slack is a former Wallaby captain