REASONS FOR KIWIS TO BE NERVOUS ABOUT THE BLEDISLOE CUP
1. The Wallabies showed last year they have the firepower to end the Bledisloe drought. Take away the dreadful first half of the first Test when they were 40-6 down, and 54-6 down after 50 minutes and Michael Cheika's side out-scored the All Blacks 88 points to 53 for the rest of the series, including piling on 45 unanswered points in 44 minutes to finish game one and start game two in the 2-1 series defeat.
2. Cheika's team is better prepared to start the series this season, coming off a high-quality series with world No.2 Ireland in June and a newly-introduced recent "trial" match. The Wallabies also seem to have broken the mental barrier with a drought-breaking victory in the 2018 third Test in Brisbane.
3. Champion flanker David Pocock is back after missing the series last season on sabbatical. The All Blacks are on high alert for the threat his super breakdown work poses to their free-wheeling game and his combination with captain Michael Hooper could prove a party "Pooper" for the world champions.
4. The All Blacks have not been at their imperious best for some time. Their playmaker, two-time world player of the year Beauden Barrett, has had his form and position questioned in recent weeks and skipper Kieran Read is still working his way back following spinal surgery.
5. While the Wallabies have made lightning starts in their past two trans-Tasman Tests, the All Blacks looked vulnerable for long patches in each of their three encounters with France in June, trailing at the break in the opener, only level on the half-hour mark in game three and out-scored in the second half of game two. They needed to rack up a total of 70 second-half points across the series to keep Les Bleus at bay and can't afford to be slow out of the blocks again.
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