New Zealand are bidding for three straight victories over Australia’s Kangaroos for the first time in over 60 years when the game’s two heavyweight Test teams collide in Brisbane on Friday.
The one-time unchallengeable Kangaroos are also at risk of relinquishing the world number one ranking at the end of the year if they lose to the Kiwis.
If New Zealand prevail in Brisbane, they will capture the top ranking if they beat England in a best-of-three away Test series in November.
The last time New Zealand strung together three wins over the Kangaroos was in 1952-53.
New Zealand have won their last two Tests against Australia, both in last year’s Four Nations including a 22-18 win in the tournament final in Wellington.
The last three Kiwi victories in Australia over the Kangaroos have all been at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, the venue for Friday’s Test match.
Yet New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney is reluctant to embrace the favourites tag.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “We are a different team, in different circumstances and it’s a different time (since the Four Nations final).”
Kearney has kept 14 of the 17 from the Four Nations final side, and recalled Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Ben Matulino, while Australian counterpart Tim Sheens has made nine changes to the side that lost last October, including debutants Josh Dugan, Will Chambers, Alex Johnston and Trent Merrin.
Significantly, influential stand-off Johnathan Thurston and prop Matt Scott return for the Kangaroos.
Sheens said he will stick with his tried and trusted against the youthful Kiwis.
“The thing is they have all been there before and done the job for us,” he said.
“Plus, they are all playing well at the moment. If they were out of form they wouldn’t even be in contention.”
Incumbent fullback Billy Slater did not pass a fitness test on a shoulder and withdrew this week, enabling Greg Inglis to move from the centres to his regular club position with NRL champions South Sydney.
New Zealand will still have to contend with an abysmal record in the annual mid-year fixture against their trans-Tasman rivals.
The Kangaroos haven’t lost a mid-year Test since 1998 when the Kiwis won 22-16 in Auckland.
“Our Kangaroos have been at the top of the tree for a while now and I am sure they will want to climb back up there,” skipper Cameron Smith said.
“We were disappointed with the Four Nations, we went into it with high expectations on ourselves and I don’t think we achieved those.
“We’re not trying to make up for that result, but we want to go out and play our best football tomorrow night.”
Experienced loose forward Corey Parker says the Kangaroos have lost the aura they once held in the international game.
“Look how far they have come. We have played them three times in 12 months and they have beaten us twice,” Parker said.
“Their core group of players (like Shaun) Johnson, (Kieran) Foran, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck are about 24, so they are going to be around for a long time,” he said.
“Our core group is over the 30-year mark. They (New Zealand) are only going to get better as a nation.”
