Rugby: Former skipper puts his money on All Blacks

David Kirk. Photo / File

When David Kirk casts his inquiring senses across tonight's transtasman duel, he favours the All Blacks and in particular their forwards to make the damaging inroads.

The Wallabies would respond to their new coach and Ewen McKenzie would have no problem tightening team discipline and morale. That was an inevitable byproduct of any changeover.

"There will be lots of energy from the Wallabies and they have a good goal-kicker but you would have to favour the All Blacks," said Kirk. "If their pack performs, I am confident they will have too much power and pressure up front for the Wallabies, backed up by their breakdown and ball-handling skills."

The 1987 World Cup skipper who is now based in Sydney with his various business interests, remains a keen spectator and analyst of the game. He watched the recent Wallaby subsidence in playing and behaviour standards and wondered about Robbie Deans' ability to get on the same wavelength as his players.

Players were often insecure because they had not experienced much of life away from their sport and they needed guidance and organisation to help manage their inflated but fragile egos.

Kirk felt Deans rarely deviated from a one size fits all policy. In contrast, Graham Henry had made that shift to deal with a range of players and racial mixes. Steve Hansen was building on that as he inherited the winning All Black culture wrapped up in 110 years of success.

"This Wallaby side has to build its own culture because it won't inherit it. A new coach puts all the players on edge - they need to prove themselves again. And the discipline issues should go away," said Kirk. "It is a good, but not the greatest, Wallaby team so the nation has to be wary of painting McKenzie as a saviour.

"He will get more consistency out of the side but if the All Blacks play to their potential then they will still be too effective for the Wallabies who have relied too much on Will Genia lately while the backs have only been dangerous from broken play."

Kirk did not feel the Wallabies would bring an all-out attacking style new chief executive Bill Pulver suggested would come with the coaching switch.

In his time with the Waratahs, McKenzie had been a pragmatic leader whose side played conservatively while the Reds were a little more unpredictable. Those Super 15 styles were dictated to by the depth of players and he felt McKenzie had coached those teams to make the playoffs rather than claiming the titles.

The forced All Blacks five-eighths change with Aaron Cruden would deliver different but just as many problems for the Wallabies. His kicking game might not be as long or as potent as Daniel Carter's but he created problems by taking the ball to the line.

"He is a good player and his repeat Super 15 work will boost his confidence," said Kirk.

If Cruden or Israel Dagg found their tactical kicking range, they could challenge Israel Folau who was a great athlete but was not so urgent in his off the ball covering work. A dominant All Black pack would create a range of defensive challenges which Folau had yet to experience in his brief test rugby career.

McKenzie had grown up in the Australian rugby system, he understood the nuances and the need to blend his team, set parameters and that would all be worth an extra notch for the Wallabies as they set off together in test rugby.