Wynne Gray: Super 15 inspired Aussie confidence riding a little too high

Wallabies Coach, Ewen McKenzie. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

All rugby trains heading west from Sydney early tonight will carry carriages chock full of Wallaby hopes.

Every year it's the same, the leather patches draped in yellow paraphernalia, loudly upbeat about their side's chances of nicking one from their Kiwi cousins.

The return journey is never as welcoming as the final trains gather up those who have worked at the stadium and those who should have left before trying to drink it dry.

The arena sits in a suburb now known as Wentworth Pt, an upgrade on the more familiar Homebush which is about 20km from Sydney Harbour.

After the Waratahs' triumph in the Super 15 there was widespread confidence the Wallabies would earn a facelift as well with an opening triumph in the annual Bledisloe Cup. They were on the money, they had won seven in a stretch and Ewen McKenzie was on to his work after a year in charge.

There's nothing like Aussie confidence. It begins with a trickle, yet before you can digest any factors it is building at a great rate of knots. The Aussies are very good at most sports but they battle against the All Blacks.

In that regard they are not out of step with the rest of the world but it puzzles and annoys them.

Most of this week's scrutiny about Bledisloe One has been about Kurtley Beale and the reasons behind McKenzie's decision to shift him into five-eighths or whether it is simply a great con job.

Early yesterday the emphasis shifted to the All Blacks' issues as Conrad Smith became the latest big gun to be silenced as he returned to be with his expectant wife.

They were topics to titillate and intrigue the masses before kickoff where surely the greatest inquiries will be about the quality of the Wallaby tight five. Will they be a close-fitting group or will they be splintered by an All Blacks mix searching for the fissures to drive doubt into the Wallaby minds?

Three of the All Blacks' front five, captain Richie McCaw and sidekick Kieran Read return from the Super 15 pain with all the info and better direction about their tasks tonight.

They will be met by a novice Wallaby hooker, two mobile but inconsistent set-piece props, one steady lock and another dipping his toes into test rugby.

We know the game has changed markedly but there is no substitute for experience in the forward arts where Slipper, Charles, Kepu, Simmons and Carter are making their way. These are the men who have to carry the Wallaby hopes if the hot-shots like Beale are to get their chance.

Optimistic Aussies still wearing the Super 15 glaze will plonk a lazy dollar on the Wallabies but they'd be better off investing in one-eyed tadpoles from Ulaanbaatar.