Ellis Park and a visit from ‘Cheezy’: Why the Wallabies’ Bledisloe belief is brewing

A visit from former Wallaby and MND sufferer Nathan Charles in Auckland – and belief gained from ending a six-decade hoodoo last year – has the Wallabies armed with quiet confidence as they attempt to bury several droughts in the Bledisloe Cup series.

The Wallabies will take on the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday night, in the opening clash of the two-game Bledisloe Cup series.

Australia haven’t won the Bledisloe Cup since 2002; a losing streak of such length that four Wallabies who’ll play in Auckland weren’t born at the time, and another seven were under the age of 3.

But that’s only one of the hoodoos to contend with. To give themselves a chance of winning the Bledisloe Cup, the Wallabies will have to win for the first time at Eden Park since 1986; a venue where the Kiwis have a 53-match unbeaten streak against all sides, dating back to 1994.

It’s uphill territory, but the Wallabies were given a timely dose of perspective and motivation on Friday, with Charles attending the captain’s run at Eden Park.

Charles defied cystic fibrosis to become a four-Test Wallaby hooker in 2014, but last week revealed he has Motor Neurone Disease. The 37-year-old subsequently appeared alongside Jai Arrow in a pre-game tribute at last Sunday’s NRL grand final.

Known as “Cheezy”, Charles and his fiancée Steph were greeted by Les Kiss and many Wallabies players and staff. The former Force forward also got a rousing applause from the players when he posed with them in a team photo.

“It’s really special to have him here … obviously it’s terrible what he’s been diagnosed with, but just seeing him around here, he’s got a smile on his face and he was joking with the boys, and he’s just really happy to be here,” Wallabies captain Harry Wilson said.

“I know he’s come over here wanting to see a great Wallabies result, and he’s given us a bit of confidence. His glass is so half full. It’s terrible what’s happened to him, but he’s out here living his life and he’s a happy man. It’s just great to have him around the group.”

The Wallabies enter this game as $4 outsiders. But the local media is more nervous than in the past years, given the Wallabies had a win over the Springboks in their last start, and are on an unbeaten streak of six games. New Zealand are also struggling with injuries to key players and have lost their last three Tests.

Asked if the All Blacks are vulnerable, Wilson was happy to let the loaded question sail through to the wicketkeeper.

“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves, I’m not giving them any more ammo. We just want to go out there and play some good footy,” he said.

But the Australian skipper conceded the Wallabies’ win at Ellis Park last year, for the first time since 1963, against the Springboks was a source of confidence about the team’s capacity to take down a long-standing curse.

“Ellis Park, that definitely gives the group confidence,” Wilson said. “That was 62 years. No one really gave us a shot, but we went out there and we played a good game and we got the result. This group, we just wanted to keep improving and we’ve done that since then. That showed the group what we can do on our day, and why not [here]?”

A mostly similar Wallabies side went close to breaking the Eden Park drought last year when they fought back from a 17-point deficit early, and only trailed 26-24 with 12 minutes to go.

But controversial Italian referee Andrea Piardi had also taken issue with the Wallabies discipline, pinging them 7-0 in the last 25 minutes, in an overall lost penalty count of 15-10.

Harry Potter was sin-binned in the 72nd minute and All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard scored two minutes later to secure a 33-24 win for the hosts.

“We’ve shown ourselves in patches over the last couple of years that we’re a team who can have a really good 30 minutes against the All Blacks and we know to beat them we’re probably going to need a good 80 minutes, or 80-plus minutes,” Wilson said.

“I like to think if we put it together we’ll be in for a good shot.”