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Sport | All Blacks

“These moments are built for us as All Blacks” – Read

All Black captain Kieran Read

Tension is high in the lead up to this season’s Bledisloe Cup decider tonight at Eden Park.. All Black captain Kieran Read faced easily the largest media contingent of the year yesterday, and said that bouncing back from last weekend’s record loss to the Wallabies was ‘a do or die game’.

“When you put out a performance like that [last week], you want to try and rectify it. We’ve got a chance to do that this week. It’s about putting it on the field.” he said.

Read stressed that discipline and defence were the most important areas of improvement, which will come as no surprise after the team conceded a red card and 47 points last weekend in Perth.

The result has come as a real shock to the All Blacks’ World Cup plans, with the tournament less than a month away. Coach Steve Hansen has made eight changes to his side, including swapping out wingers Ben Smith and Rieko Ioane with Sevu Reece and George Bridge.

Meanwhile, Wallaby coach Michael Cheika has only made one injury-enforced change, with lock Adam Coleman replacing Rory Arnold. The second row re-shuffle means Rob Simmons has been named amongst the reserves, alongside potential debutant Liam Wright.

Kickoff tonight at Eden Park is at 7:35pm.