Bledisloe Cup is bigger than the World Cup for Will Genia

Wallabies halfback Will Genia says beating the world’s best team in a best-of-three series is the biggest challenge in world rugby.

Wallabies halfback Will Genia has declared winning the Bledisloe Cup is his No 1 priority. Picture: AAP

Given the recent history of arse-kickings, you’d reckon Australia’s only hope of winning the Bledisloe Cup would be to take Winx straight from her run at Randwick Racecourse on Saturday afternoon and slot her into the Wallabies backline, but New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has once again started Test week by saying (with a wonderfully straight face) that the hosts deserved favouritism for the series opener at ANZ Stadium.

“They won the last one,” Hansen deadpanned in reference to the Wallabies’ victory in last year’s inconsequential third rubber, before developing the comedic timing of a script writer for Flight Of The Conchords and/or a Queensland State of Origin coach by declaring rather nonchalantly: “They have to be, don’t they?”

Probably not, old mate. The Wallabies haven’t held the Bledisloe since Kath and Kim first hit our TV screens. None of the bookmakers appeared to have erred too dramatically in posting them as $4.25 outsiders for Saturday night’s confrontation.

But even after 15 years of watching the Wallabies play Venus to the All Blacks’ Serena, hope has sprung eternal on this side of the ditch. Here we go again ahead of another trans-Tasman series in which the Wallabies could give the kiss of life to the sport in this country by belting the All Blacks’ forwards, letting the pig skin fly and winning the damn thing.

A Bledisloe triumph would be one of this year’s landmark achievements in Australian sport and might even make rugby’s army of naysayers forget about referees blowing their whistles more than a Mumbai traffic cop and Super Rugby’s format becoming more complicated than molecular physics. You never know.

Wallabies halfback Will Genia yesterday rated a Bledisloe series victory at the top of his wish list. Asked what it would mean to slay the All Blacks, he replied: “Everything. I can only speak from my personal point of view and for me, I’d have to say it’s the pinnacle.

“The World Cup is obviously up there but how often do you get to play the best team in the world three times, and have to win two out of three to win a trophy. I’ve been trying for a while now, so I’m really looking forward to another crack.”

The 30-year-old was asked if winning the Bledisloe was harder than winning a World Cup.

“I haven’t won a World Cup so I’m not going to say it’s harder but I will say for me, it’s the number one priority. Because they’re the best team in the world for the last 15, 20 years, back-to-back World Cup winners, you have to beat them two times out of three to win that trophy so for me that makes it incredibly difficult. It will also make it incredibly special if we’re fortunate enough to do it. There’s always that public pressure but more than that, it’s the pressure you put on yourself because we know if we can perform well and do our jobs, we give ourselves every opportunity of getting that trophy.”

Genia talked up the returns of Michael Hooper (injury) and David Pocock (saving the world) and denied he was overawed by the All Blacks’ aura of invincibility.

“I can only speak from my personal experience,” he said. “I think when I was a little bit younger, you certainly feel that respect and you sort of take it out on the field. That’s sort of a mental barrier that you’ve got to cross before you even start to play against them. But getting a little bit older and having played them for a while now, it’s not really about them. I don’t mean that disrespectfully. It’s just about concentrating on what you can do and doing the job to the best of your ability. I think if we can have that mindset, old, young or however many games you’ve played, we certainly give ourselves a shot.” Genia said the Wallabies’ desperation to be the Australian side that finally won the Bledisloe was matched only by the Kiwis’ fear of being the players who lost it.

On the keys to victory, he said: “I just think intensity. Making sure you are in their faces for the entire 80 minutes. If you give them a sniff, they take it so it’s about being relentless in terms of the pressure you apply on them with the ball, without the ball and just bring that physicality. Every year we say it’s different but it’s a case of not even thinking that way. We haven’t won the Cup for the last 15, 16 years … you hear them talk a lot about the fact they don’t want to be the All Blacks side that loses it for the first time in 15, 16 years.”

Genia rubbished a suggestion that the haka had become commercialised. “I love it,” he said. “It’s just an expression of their culture. People can say it’s overcommercialised but they don’t do it for a commercial purpose. They do it because it’s something important to them in terms of their culture and from our perspective, we have an incredible amount of respect for it. It’s a spectacle as well. It’s great to be a part of. You want to play the All Blacks because they’re the best team in the world. but you also want to play them because it’s a privilege to face something like that within our game.”