WELLINGTON: The Wallabies have made rookie All Blacks playmaker Tom Taylor their prime target in their must-win return Test in Wellington today.
They need to avenge last week’s 47-29 thrashing in Sydney if they are to keep their Rugby Championship hopes alive.
After pouring through tapes of the first Test hiding looking for holes in the New Zealand attack, the Australians believe the All Blacks handed them a trump card with their choice of the untested Taylor in the crucial flyhalf position.
Taylor has the responsibility of steering the All Blacks around the park and Wallabies scrumhalf Will Genia said yesterday they will do everything they can to unnerve him.
“You have to. It’s someone playing his first Test and that’s something we’ll look to pressure him and see how he copes with the decision-making and controlling of their game,” Genia said.
“From our point of view we want to put as much pressure on him as we can and see how he deals with it.”
Wallabies skipper James Horwill, however, added a note of caution about the “target Taylor” strategy, referring to the 2011 World Cup when multiple flyhalf injuries earned Stephen Donald a recall for the final -- and Donald kicked the winning penalty.
“They were down to the fourth or fifth five-eighth and they still won the World Cup,” said Horwill. AFP
