All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has welcomed Wallabies counterpart Ewen McKenzie to Test rugby with some mind games designed to pop a balloon of Australian expectancy.
Hansen on Thursday sought to pressure McKenzie over the issue of whether he would restore his controversial Queensland Reds playmaker Quade Cooper to the key five eighth role for Saturday's Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney.
He revealed his spies indicated that McKenzie would go with Matt Toomua as starting five eighth instead, and he believed Toomua would line inside Brumbies teammates Christian Lealiifano and newcomer Tevita Kuridrani, employing a Brumbies-style rush defence to put pressure on the All Blacks' backs.
Hansen said rather than rattle the All Blacks, McKenzie's strategy to carefully conceal his selection intentions until a late Thursday team announcement was the action of a man under pressure after riding a wave of positive publicity last month when replacing fromer Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.
"Australia haven't had a great run against us for a wee while now," Hansen said.
"That's all been attributed to Robbie Deans, which I think is a wee bit unfair. Everyone seems to think that Ewen's going to make the difference so there's got to be pressure on him.
"What happens if it doesn't work?"
Cooper, who was overlooked by Deans over the past 12 months, provided a headache for his former Reds mentor McKenzie, Hansen believed.
Picking mercurial playmaker Cooper was a risk which Hansen believed McKenzie had shied away from as kickoff neared.
"Is he feeling a bit mentally challenged because he doesn't know which five-eighth he wants to play?
"I'd imagine when Robbie Deans wasn't picking Quade Cooper, McKenzie was probably saying `I'll pick you Quade, I'll pick you'.
"Our information is telling us that he's going to pick the other bloke (Toomua).
"It doesn't bother me a hoot who they play."
