Muliaina calls even 3N stakes
Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:54
All Black fullback Mils Muliaina believes the Tri-Nations decider against the Wallabies in Brisbane next weekend will be one of the toughest projects of his Test career.
The All Blacks have arrived in Brisbane ahead of next Saturday's crunch clash at Suncorp Stadium, the winner of which will take the 2008 Tri-Nations crown. A New Zealand win will also secure the Bledisloe Cup for the visitors.
Although Robbie Deans' Wallabies will be coming off a record 8-53 defeat to the Springboks in Johannesburg, Muliaina predicts the battle of Brisbane will most certainly go down to the wire.
"This is that pressure-cooker stuff where no-one is too sure who is going to win," Muliaina told Yahoo!Xtra.
"It might only come down to one moment, just one moment in the game could win it.
"So these are the games that you want to play in, the really exciting stuff. They are the games when you know you have to be on the job."
Muliaina for one was shocked with the Wallabies' defeat margin in Johannesburg, especially after their 27-15 victory over the Boks in Durban just a week previously.
However, with the Wallabies resting certain key players after Durban and possibly struggling to keep up mentally for the second clash, he felt nothing could be read into the result ahead of the decider.
"It is always pretty hard," he said.
"The South Africans had their backs against the wall, they were being criticised a lot. They were always wanting to get out there and play like that.
"The Australians looked a bit sluggish, they were probably thinking about getting on that plane.
"The South Africans are a tough opponent. And over there, especially when their backs are against the wall, they are a very hard team to beat.
"I was a little bit surprised with the difference in the score, how much the Springboks got up by, but it won't be anything like that in Brisbane."
After a 101-14 drubbing over a below-strength Samoa in New Plymouth last Wednesday, Muliaina said the All Blacks had shaken out their cobwebs in preparation for Brisbane.
Despite their own impressive form in recent Tri-Nations Tests, the Test veteran feels the All Blacks would need to lift their game substantially at Suncorp Stadium.
"It will be one of those tight ones and we have to make sure we get everything right," he said.
"I just think obviously in Cape Town our kick-chase wasn't as effective as we wanted it to be.
"South Africa could easily have scored off a couple of their counter-attacks. We were left wanting.
"It is more of a communication thing, just communicating on different parts on the field. We still need to work on how we do that and just get that side of things right," he added.
