Raw hostility is the Wallabies’ best hope against the All Blacks

Mongrel, for lack of a better word, is the reason I wanted to see Josh Canham play better. I feel Saturday was another missed opportunity.

Canham infuriated All Blacks legend Aaron Smith during Super Rugby in 2023 – Smith felt Canham had kicked him in the head during a match in Dunedin – but while that can never be tolerated, there is a bit of the devil in Canham that needs to be reined in.

My initial doubts about Carlo Tizzano’s height have also disappeared over the last three Tests and he certainly deserves a place on the bench, ahead of Langi Gleeson.

Forget the overseas players, the Wallabies are sending 23 players, which is below the current player capacity within Super Rugby Pacific.

But beyond these selection issues, the real test for Joe Schmidt and his assistant coaches will be to elicit the emotional and physical response from the Wallabies that supporters should really expect after the embarrassing loss to Argentina.

There is sometimes a tendency to over-intellectualize the game, and while the much-hyped Chasing the sun series about the Springboks borders on myth-making (one of the executive producers is a certain Rassie Erasmus) and the best scenes don’t even mention tactics, structures or forms.

For example, well-known Springboks defender Jacques Nienaber can be seen in a scene in which he produces a clip from the All Blacks’ defeat to England in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup.

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Nienaber highlighted how the English continually crossed the advantage line against the All Blacks and told the Springboks in no uncertain terms that this simply would not happen in the 2019 final if South Africa defended the advantage line as if their own country and families depended on it.

These kinds of emotional appeals to players may seem a little cheesy and Hollywood-esque, but they’re incredibly powerful and a reminder that the game is, at its core, a call for people to put their bodies on the line for a greater good.

There is no doubt that the All Blacks are a better team than the Wallabies on paper, but Saturday is a chance for the Wallabies to mitigate that through sheer force of will. Whether that leads to a win is anyone’s guess, but it will certainly earn them respect.

View all action from The Rugby Championship with every match streamed ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport. Round five kicks off this weekend with Wallabies vs All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup (Saturday, 3pm, AEST) and Argentina v South Africa (Sunday, 6:50am, AEST).