Rugby: Wallaby’s great David Campese says 2020 version of the All Blacks is not up to scratch

Australian rugby great David Campese says there are clear signs that the 2020 version of the All Blacks is not living up to the team’s historically high standards.

In speaking with Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford at Newstalk ZB on Tuesday, Campese used the example of Rieko Ioane’s failed attempt as a sign of the crumbling of what was once a consistently dominant team.

Ioane was denied his 25th test attempt after dropping the ball in his attempt to throw himself over the line, a mistake Campese believes would not have been allowed to happen in the past.

“In 1989 I got in trouble for the British Lions pass. All of Australia pocketed me, they attacked me and yet an All Black took a dive at the weekend and as soon as the ball dropped I told my son Jason … ‘he didn’t write that down!’ – That’s not what normal All Blacks do.

“I know it’s a different era, I know I’m old, but that changed the game, that allowed the Wallabies to have some confidence in themselves and get back into the game, a little mistake.”

Campese went on to say that Ioane’s mistake was just one of many tests in Bledisloe’s opener from a team lacking the class of years past.

“You can see little things that didn’t exist before, maybe a lot of older guys aren’t there like Kieran Read and obviously the Richie McCaws who were so ingrained in traditions and all that.

“Little things change games and that was just one of the things I noticed … also the amount of mistakes under pressure that the All Blacks made last week, yes, it is the first test and we have been missing rugby, but that it’s uncharacteristic of the All Blacks. “

Campese suspects that new All Blacks head coach Ian Foster is the source of this change and suggested that New Zealand Rugby showed a lack of faith in him by signing him to a relatively short contract in charge of the team.

“The All Blacks – very, very strange that they gave the coach a two-year deal, instead of the normal four, so they’ve obviously seen something there that they’re not quite sure of.

However, this lack of faith in Foster also spread to his own country, as Campese refused to predict a win for the Wallabies at Eden Park next Sunday.

“The last time we won there was when I played there in 1986, but I think after last week … this young team, there is a lot of potential there, I just hope they play like they did last week and if they do I think that we will get very, very close. “