Wallabies great John Eales believes last year's Rugby World Cup flop would still be playing on the minds of the All Blacks, and putting immense pressure on coach Graham Henry ahead of Saturday's Bledisloe Cup blockbuster.
As the Bledisloe build-up continued to centre on the battle of coaches Henry and fellow Kiwi Robbie Deans, World Cup winning captain Eales expressed his surprise New Zealand had stuck with their coaching team after the white-hot favourites' quarter-final choke in France.
"They are a very, very good coaching staff and I respect them a lot, but how differently can the same coaching staff do things?" Eales asked.
"And people know, `well, it didn't work for us last time'."
Asked if he was surprised New Zealand had stuck with Henry - and knocked back five-time Super rugby winning coach Deans - Eales said: "I'm surprised they didn't change something.
"I think Graham Henry's a wonderful coach ... but it would have been playing on people's minds, that (World Cup) result.
"I think it adds a bit more pressure on him than it does on Robbie."
The impression all week has been of a carefree Deans having the time of his life after plotting the downfall of world champions South Africa in last Saturday's Tri-Nations clash, while stern-faced Henry bunkered down.
The All Blacks only arrive in Sydney late on Thursday and will not officially face the Australian media until late on match eve.
"It's a very different psychology, what they're under than what we're under," Eales said.
"We've been rebuilding for quite a while now and had a couple of false starts with short periods under different coaches.
"Now Robbie's sort of coming in, and when you first come in you like to change things, so you have that period where people forgive you a bit and we're still in that zone.
"The All Blacks are well past that moment so that puts more pressure on them, there's no question.
"The psychology of backing up after you've had a really disappointing result in a World Cup is difficult.
"It's more difficult than backing up with a big change to what's happening."
The All Blacks remain favourites for the ANZ Stadium clash, having won six of their past seven Tests against Australia as well as holding the Tri-Nations title for the past three years and the Bledisloe Cup since 2003.
"It's a bit harsh judging the All Blacks like this too, isn't it, because in that period of time they've also had wonderful success in everything that they've been in except the World Cup, but that would be playing on their mind," Eales said.
But Australia's unbeaten record under Deans, their upset of the Springboks, and a depleted All Blacks' loss to the same opponent two weeks ago in Dunedin has confidence sky high in the Wallabies camp.
Eales, who unsuccessfully attempted to re-enact his famous penalty kick to clinch the 2000 Bledisloe in his business gear at Coogee Oval, expects there won't be much in it again on Saturday.
"More often than not they're close games and great contests," he said.
"There's moments in a game you can really point to and I think it's the team that generally gets on top or the better of those moments that will be the team that wins."
Eales also recalled the arrival of stand-in Wallabies skipper George Smith in 2000 and was quick to give the flanker, who last week passed him as Australia's most capped forward, his thumbs up.
"I think one of the important leadership qualities that people show is they feel that they've got something to offer the team straight away and they're willing to proffer that, get that forward," he said of Smith.
