Rugby pundit Morgan Turinui has implored the Wallabies to continue the physicality during Bledisloe III.
Ahead of Bledisloe II, All Blacks management went on the offensive, trying to influence the officials by suggesting the Wallabies were targeting their players off the ball.
All Blacks assistant coach John Plumtree’s comments weren’t missed by Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, who questioned their motives by doing so and said both teams had the opportunity to air grievances to the officials behind closed doors.
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Nonetheless, the Wallabies were booed on a number of occasions for committed tackles on the All Blacks during Bledisloe II and were penalised once for a late shot on halfback Aaron Smith, which led to the opening points of the afternoon to playmaker Richie Mo’unga.
But Turinui, the former Wallabies midfielder who played 20 Tests, said it was ironic that the kings of trans-Tasman rugby were questioning Rennie’s tactics and that they had to continue to bring the physicality to stand a chance of keeping the Bledisloe series alive.
“I think it’s interesting that the masters of niggle off the ball are whinging about things that happened off the ball,” Turinui told reporters at Rugby Australia on Wednesday.
“I admire the way New Zealand just tread that line between what is legal and wasn’t it and what’s allowed and what isn’t, and I’m quite happy that Australia decided that it’s Test match footy.
“It’s not footy with your mates down the park, it’s not a friendly, it’s a Test match and it’s a test of every part of your game and it is a test of how you can skirt that line, get away with what you need to to influence the game and New Zealand have been the best at it in the world for a long time, and we did it a little bit and I was interested that they made those comments.
“I want to see us be very physical. New Zealand had a little bit of pressure on after the draw (in Bledisloe I), so they were always going to come out and be really physical in the first 20 minutes and they did, and it’s up to our Wallaby forward pack to meet that physical challenge.”
Turinui’s former Test teammate Matt Dunning agreed: “You’ve got to be as physical as you can within the rules and tread that line because if you don’t, you’re not going to slow their ball down.”
The Wallabies must beat the All Blacks on Saturday to stay alive in the Bledisloe Cup series.
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