Auckland (AFP)

New Zealand are big favorites against Australia, disappointing against France last month, for the first of their three Bledisloe Cup clashes, Saturday in Auckland (9:05 am French time, GMT + 2).

Not a single player of the Australian starting XV was born the last time the Wallabies won on the lawn of the legendary Eden Park, in 1986, and we can hardly see them putting an end to the series.

The All Blacks impressed in their first three games of the year in June, with a landslide victory over Tonga (102-0) and two other big offensive performances against Fiji (57-23 and 60-13), even if the first took a little long to emerge.

Across the Tasman Sea, Australia has at the same time experienced the worst difficulties to win its series of three tests against a France team yet deprived of most of its executives.

The Wallabies also shot themselves in the foot when they had to do without, for disciplinary reasons, one of their best players, the powerful winger Marika Koroibete, guilty of alcohol abuse on his return from the Tokyo Olympics. .

Australian opener Noah Lolesio goes on trial against France by Melvyn Jaminet (l), July 17, 2021 in Brisbane Patrick HAMILTON AFP / Archives

He will be replaced, within a team of 25 years of average age, by Andrew Kellaway, which will be the first tenure.

- No overconfidence -

New Zealand scrum-half Aaron Smith will honor his 100th selection at the age of 32, with Richie Mo'unga, preferred over Beauden Barrett, as a pivotal partner.

New Zealand has held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003, a trophy put into play every year between the two rivals from Oceania, but its coach Ian Foster has warned of possible overconfidence: "The Cup is not ours . We have to go and win it again ".

Scrum-half Aaron Smith scores a try against Australia in the Bledisloe Cup test match on August 17, 2019 in Auckland Greg Bowker AFP / Archives

The other two clashes between New Zealand and Australia will take place as part of the Rugby Championship: August 14, again at Eden Park in Auckland, then August 28 in Perth.

In the absence of South Africa, reigning world champion, the All Blacks had won without convincing last year the benchmark competition in the Southern hemisphere, conceding in passing the first defeat in their history against the Argentina.

But this year, the South Africans will participate in the tournament, which they will start on August 14 against the Pumas.

In reconquest this year, the Blacks also have a revenge to take against the Wallabies, who had beaten them in November in Brisbane (24-22) during their last confrontation.

© 2021 AFP