SYDNEY, 14 November 2003 — The Wallabies believe they have uncovered some defensive chinks in the New Zealand armor, which they can exploit in tomorrow’s World Cup semifinal.
Australia coach Eddie Jones said he was encouraged that Wales had already exposed some weaknesses in the All Blacks’ defense when they ran in four tries against them during the pool stage.
Jones would not identify exactly where the All Blacks were vulnerable but said he was confident his team would find the same holes. “New Zealand have got some frailties in terms of their game,” Jones told a news conference yesterday.
“I think Wales showed there’s some areas that can be exposed if you get some quick ball, there’s defensive patterns and defenders that are able to be exposed.
“We’ve got to work hard, as Wales did, to get some good forward ball that allows us to expose those areas.”
The defending champions have been heavily criticized for their performances so far with the backline under fire for squandering a string of try scoring opportunities through sloppy handling.
But Jones said he was confident they had ironed out their problems and were planning to unveil some surprise moves on tomorrow night.
“We’ve got some plays, one or two things that the opposition maybe aren’t alert to, but you’ve got to be able to execute them on the day,” he said.
“We’ve certainly got a couple of things we’d like to use that may attack some of the areas that we don’t think New Zealand are that strong in.
“There’s a certain way each team attacks and a certain way that each team defends but it’s that little tactical surprise that teams can pull out...that can help you get that little bit of difference.”
Jones discounted suggestions New Zealand were haunted by their previous failures at the World Cup, saying history would count for nothing when the sides run out on to Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.
After winning the inaugural World Cup in 1987, the All Blacks have failed to add to their tally following a series of near-misses. They lost to Australia in the 1991 semifinals then suffered a surprise defeat to South Africa in the 1995 final when they were strong favorites to win.
But neither of those compare to their shock loss to France in the 1999 semifinals when they crashed to a 43-31 loss after appearing to have the game in their grasp. “They’ve set themselves pretty high standards and they’ve shown over the last 18 months a great deal of strength mentally in close games so I think they’re a much more stable team than maybe the side that played in 1999,” Jones said.
