How Wallaby responded when asked about pressure All Blacks are under

Wallabies lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto has dismissed the idea the All Blacks’ long-lasting Wellington hoodoo and their recent run of results could increase the pressure on the New Zealanders ahead of this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup Test.

The All Blacks will keep the giant Cup on New Zealand’s side of the ditch for at least another year after claiming a thrilling 31-28 win over the Wallabies last Saturday, but the reaction from fans on social media in the days since hasn’t been overwhelmingly positive.

Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane and Caleb Clarke had scored a try each as the All Blacks ran away to a 21-nil lead after just 15 minutes. It seemed a cricket-esque score was on the cards, but the Wallabies never gave up in front of 68,000 supporters at Accor Stadium.

Australia outscored their arch-rivals 14-3 in the second half, with the TMO ruling out a number of New Zealand tries. Yellow cards to Anton Lienert-Brown and Caleb Clarke were also a talking point after the team’s first victory since mid-August.

But, they still won. Scott Robertson’s All Blacks now have a chance to complete a clean sweep of the Wallabies, but to do that they’ll need to win in Wellington. The All Blacks haven’t won at Sky Stadium since a win over France in 2018.

“I think the pressure probably comes from you guys if anything,” Salakaia-Loto told reporters. “Every team goes through scores like that.

“Whether it’s Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, wherever we play against the ABs, they’re a world-class outfit.

“It’s going to be a tough game.

“There’s always pressure from within to perform well and to win at home especially. There’s no doubt that angle from them but I don’t read too much into that.”

After those tries to Jordan, Ioane and Clarke early in the Sydney Test, the Wallabies hit back with a well-worked set-piece try to backrower Fraser McReight. Matt Faessler also crossed for a five-pointer later on after peeling off the back of a maul.

Jordie Barrett had a try disallowed on the half-time siren which kept the scores at 14-28 going into the break. For Wallabies fans who had braved it out during the All Blacks’ initial dominance, a 14-point deficit at the interval would’ve felt positive.

The Wallabies needed to be the next to score a try, and they were, with Hunter Paisami crossing in the 64^th minute – a score that had the Sydney crowd daring to dream. Another try to Tom Wright in the 78^th minute helped make it a three-point game after the successful conversion.

But time wasn’t on their side.

Salakaia-Loto was part of the Wallabies’ bench that came on and made a telling difference in that Test. The towering second-rower made a couple of eye-catching carries, with the reserves feeding off each other’s confidence during the final quarter.

“I think in the context of the game and where it was at in that second half, it was definitely a better second half than it was a first half,” Salakaia-Loto reflected.

“Us boys on the bench, we knew we had to inject some energy into the game and I thought we did that.

“It wasn’t a spray,” he added when asked about half-time. “It was more so just turning the screws on the stuff that we knew would get us back into the game.

“I think going into half-time, the margin could have been bigger. I thought we did well to stay within range on the scoreboard.

“A spray wasn’t needed, it more so just going back to doing what we knew that we could do well and that got us back into the game in the second half. It was just regrouping and just doing what we planned to do in the first half.”