New Zealand Rugby

New Zealand have already locked up their 2017 Bledisloe Cup win over Australia, but the All Blacks will try to make it a clean sweep against the Wallabies on Saturday in Brisbane.

Australia gave their big rivals a real challenge in their last meeting in Dunedin, losing in heartbreaking fashion. The result handed the All Blacks their 15th straight Bledisloe Cup, and they're expected to win the third meeting as well.

Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming match.

Date: Saturday, October 21

Time: 8 p.m. AEST/10 a.m. BST/5 a.m. ET

Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Preview

Australia put together a much better showing in their second Test in August against the All Blacks after losing the first by 20 points, a match that saw New Zealand cruise to a 40-6 half-time score.

The second Test saw Australia run out to a quick lead before their rivals completed an epic comeback with just minutes left to play, winning by six. The All Blacks overcame a 17-point deficit.

ESPN Rugby's Craig Dowd believes the hosts are in an even better position to win this time around:

Suncorp Stadium is a bit of a fortress for Australian rugby while the expectation is always on the All Blacks to do well. On the flipside, the expectations are low on Australia which means they've got nothing to lose. When you get those sorts of odds, it is all set up against you; the only way the All Blacks can have a win out of this is to actually have a convincing one.

However, we all know Australia are never a lie-down sort of team. They're a tough outfit and they've shown they're getting better and better. They finished second in the Rugby Championship and will be disappointed they couldn't do better than two draws with South Africa.

Star All Blacks fly-half Beauden Barrett is a doubt to play in the third Test, per Tom Decent of the Sydney Morning Herald, following his concussion in the narrow win over South Africa. Richie Mo'unga has been called up as cover at the position but has never featured in a Test. Brodie Retallick won't play either.

Injuries have been a regular thing for New Zealand this year, and the team's extraordinary depth has held up well, but there's only so much turnover a team can take. Their recent record in Brisbane hasn't been great, and in a supposedly dead rubber, it could be hard for the players to get motivated.

The All Blacks' raw athleticism will trouble just about any team in the world, but the Wallabies have shown the ability to turn matches into a slugfest and did so to great effect in Dunedin. Another quick start and better composure late on will be needed to secure the upset, but it certainly isn't out of the question.

Prediction: New Zealand complete the sweep after another close, hard-fought match. All Blacks 34-27 Wallabies

The second match of the 2017 Bledisloe Cup―as part of the Rugby Championship―will take place on Saturday, as New Zealand go looking for yet another win over rivals Australia.

The All Blacks have won all editions of the three-match series since 2003 and crushed the Wallabies 54-34 in Sydney last week. The series now moves to Dunedin, where the hosts will be huge favourites. The third match of the series will take place in Brisbane on October 21, but the Bledisloe Cup could well be decided by then.

Here's a look at the details for Match 2:

Date: Saturday, August 26

Time: 8:35 a.m. BST/7:35 p.m. Local

Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin

Preview

Last weekend's demolition in Sydney once again highlighted the wide gap in quality that exists between the two rivals right now, as the All Blacks scored no less than six first-half tries on enemy soil.

At the break, the score was 40-6, and while the Aussies performed admirably in the second half, it was clear the All Blacks weren't even trying any longer at that point.

ESPN Rugby's Craig Dowd fears things could get a lot worse in Match 2:

"Even after a victory like that, the All Blacks will have come away with plenty of work-ons and areas for improvement. That spells bad news for the Wallabies in Dunedin where I'm sure they will get much more of the same and probably a little bit more given the passing of Sir Colin Meads. He is one of New Zealand's heroes and a great icons of All Blacks rugby."

The All Blacks reserves likely got an earful from coach Steve Hansen after allowing the hosts to score 28 points in the second half. Usually, the deep and athletic All Blacks squad does even more damage after the break, but this time that wasn't the case.

Another fast start is expected in Dunedin, and in all likelihood, the hosts will not slow down even if they grab a healthy lead. New Zealand have struggled putting together complete performances of late, but against a slumping Wallabies team that could change.

For Australia, executing the fundamentals will be key in avoiding another blowout. Missed tackles doomed the Wallabies in the first match, and while they're unlikely to match the All Blacks in raw athleticism this time around, the least they can do is make things difficult on their opponents.

Slowing down the play with good set pieces and a good showing from the pack would also help, or the Wallabies could be in for yet another embarrassing night in Dunedin.

Prediction: New Zealand 48-17 Australia 

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Dan Carter, the World Rugby Player of the Year for 2015, will be able to operate at the top level until the end of his current contract with Racing 92 in 2018, mainly because he is adapting his style to ensure his longevity as a world-class fly-half.

Carter will be 36 when his current deal ends, and it is hard to see the former All Black playing beyond then. As a World Cup winner, international points record-holder and arguably the finest player of the professional era, he has no need to play on beyond 2018.

But why will Carter be able to keep playing the rugby we expect from him when he is well into his mid-30s?

Most importantly, Carter’s move to France and the Top 14 was a shrewd one. The French league’s physicality may not immediately appear to suit the skilful Carter, but it is playing amid so much brawn that brains can shine through. The faster-paced Super Rugby may have exposed Carter’s diminishing speed as he enters his twilight years. Not so in France.

That said, Carter will depend on his Racing team-mates to maintain his form. Without dominance from the pack, Carter could struggle. But even then, as we saw in the Champions Cup quarter-final against Toulon, although his forwards were on the back foot, Carter was able to control the game as it entered its crucial phases. Writing in the Guardian, Paul Rees noted:

Daniel Carter took charge, putting Racing in attacking positions and cutting out risk, despite being virtually on one leg after aggravating a knee injury in the opening half. Carter’s precise tactical kicking relieved pressure at crucial moments and after largely being outplayed in the opening hour, they were on the front foot when it mattered at the end.

Carter will not be able to replicate the form of his early years. The 2005 vintage, for example, when he decimated the British and Irish Lions, was a superbly balanced runner—the best gain-line fly-half of all. That attacking Carter has largely been confined to history.

But as he showed throughout the 2015 World Cup, and especially in the knockout matches, the late-career Carter is still one of the finest tactical kickers and has some of the best hands of any back in the world. His goal kicking remains dead-eye. These are the skills that will enable him to operate at the top level until 2018.

Parallels between Carter and the other great injury-ravaged No. 10 of the millennium, Jonny Wilkinson, were rarely apt, but there are certainly similarities in the way these two geniuses approach the game in their mid-30s. Compare the way Wilkinson played when European Player of the Year in 2013 at Toulon to Carter’s current style and you find pragmatic game management firmly at the heart of their play.

Wilkinson’s evergreen form was aided by having a world-class partner at 12 in Matt Giteau to take some of the creative pressure off the veteran fly-half. Similarly, Carter will need scrum-half Maxime Machenaud to perform that role for him.

Ahead of the Champions Cup semi-final with Leicester Tigers, Carter’s former midfield partner Aaron Mauger told the BBC:

When he's on top of his game, as we saw at the World Cup, there's probably no better. He's pretty resilient, he's always worked very hard to be the best that he can be and that's why he has been one of the best the game has ever seen. He's a pretty complete footballer. He's had to re-package himself over the years, especially with injuries, but I think he's come back a better player.

Carter in 2016 is not Carter in 2005—and he shouldn’t try to be. One of the toughest skills for the ageing genius is to recognise his limitations. Great players adapt, and Carter is a truly great player. With his superb game management, handling and kicking, he will see out his contract at Racing while remaining in the top handful of fly-halves in the world.

The death of Jerry Collins and his partner Alana Madill last year sent shockwaves around the rugby world.

Collins, a veteran of 48 All Blacks appearances and a one-time captain of the New Zealand national side, was playing for Racing Club Narbonne and was killed in a car accident near the town of Beziers in the south of France in June 2015.

New Zealand prop Neemia Tialata led a powerful Haka at the sight of the crash that claimed the lives of both Collins and his partner.

The global reaction to the death of the 1002nd All Black ensured he would always be remembered, but Collins has now received a more concrete posthumous remembrance. 

Porirua Park, the home ground of Collins' amateur club Northern United, will be renamed in his honour, according to AllBlacks.com. 

The rededication will officially take place on Friday, March 25 in a ceremony at the ground where Collins first learned the skills that took him to the summit of world rugby.

An elderly Hurricanes fan was on the receiving end of an unexpected, yet welcome surprise, courtesy of Sonny Bill Williams and his team-mates. 

They gave him a lift. 

Williams and his sevens squad were in Wellington, New Zealand, on Thursday, when they spotted the man with a Hurricanes scarf on waiting for a bus. 

So they decided to pick him up and give him a ride. 

It was a nice gesture from the New Zealand star who made waves during the Rugby World Cup for giving his winner's medal to a pitch invader. 

[Twitter, Sonny Bill Williams, h/t Rugby Heaven]

Fresh from winning the Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks in October, Sonny Bill Williams is now in Lebanon lending a hand to children of the Syrian refugee crisis.

The All Blacks' superstar is currently visiting a temporary settlement in Faida, Bekaa Valley, working with UNICEF to highlight conditions the children and their families are living in after escaping war-torn Syria.

SBW continues to build up his good guy reputation, after giving away his winners' medal to a lucky 14 year old pitch invaded after the Rugby World Cup final.

[UNICEFNZ, Twitter, h/t Sydney Morning Herald]

There are very few sportsmen who can justifiably be said to have changed the way their game was played forever.

Ed Moses’ 13-stride pattern between each barrier of the 400m hurdles was unheard of before the American adopted it to dominate his event for a decade, per the Guardian.

Michael Jordan’s God-given abilities forced rule changes in basketball, and generations that followed modelled themselves on the Chicago Bulls’ No. 23, per the Sports Archive Blog.

Dick Fosbury’s backwards flop over the high-jump bar in 1968 transformed that discipline for good, per the Guardian.

And Babe Ruth’s awesome power with a baseball bat led to changes in pitching rules, and his aura caused a hike in player wages, per ESPN.

Each man left an indelible mark on the pursuit at which he excelled, and each man's sport was never the same after him.

Jonah Lomu, who died on Wednesday at the young age of 40, as reported by the BBC, belongs rightfully in their company.

Until he burst onto the scene in 1995, no one had ever seen or imagined a wing who married his size with his speed.

After trampling England with those four tries in the World Cup semi-final of that year, Lomu became an overnight sensation, and massive men who had hitherto only ever been regarded as candidates for the back row were suddenly seen as potential wings, capable of wreaking havoc on their opponents.

Lomu’s former All Blacks team-mate Justin Marshall said, per BBC.co.uk: "He was a freak of nature at the time. He was 110kg but could run like the wind. Having that on the end of your chain rather than in the forward pack was a revolution of the game"

The fact he was the first of his size to pull on the No. 11 jersey is his true legacy to the sport, as Joe Ritchie of the New York Times wrote:

Lomu’s impact on the modern game can be seen in the number of big, powerful runners who followed him — though none have reached Lomu’s stature — like Mathieu Bastareaud, the French centre, Sonny Bill Williams, the New Zealand utility back, and the Australia fullback Israel Folau.

That his death is being afforded column inches in a newspaper from a country with only a passing interest in the sport speaks volumes of the reach Lomu had beyond rugby’s traditional heartlands.

Add any number of massive Tongan, Samoan or Fijian wings to that list of names. They have all been reared as heavy-hitting wide men in the mould of Lomu, though none have combined their size and speed with the nimble footwork he displayed.

His style was summed up by former newspaper columnist Peter Fitzsimmons, per abc.net.au: "He was a freight train in ballet shoes. Other players could go through players, other players could go around players, Lomu could do it all.”

The Guardian’s Gerard Meagher agrees: "Lomu was a pioneer for rugby union. He raised interest to levels not witnessed before and his legacy can be seen every time George North or Julian Savea, two modern day wing behemoths, take the field."

If his physical attributes and the way he used them set the template for a new type of rugby player, Lomu’s standing at the time as the only individual of his ilk also left its mark on not just the players to come, but the fans who watched the sport.

Ask any rugby fan of the Playstation era what their game of choice was and they will tell you it was the one that bore the All Black’s name.

No rugby player has since had a game named after them, and in much the same way as we have seen countless players try and fail to put their size and speed to the same devastating effect on the field, the developers who followed Codemasters’ 1997 Jonah Lomu Rugby could never replicate the same sense of fun offered by that game, per Foxsports.com.au

This columnist began university a year later and can vouch solidly for the fact there is a generation who owe their degree grades to time spent on Lomu that should have been dedicated to dissertations and revision.

If Lomu changed the way wingers were built and had the biggest profile any player has ever possessed, the third element to his legacy has to be what he did for the game as a whole.

His emergence coincided with the dawning of the professional era, and there is good reason to suppose that the growth of the game around the world as a professional sport would not have happened in the same way without its own global superstar.

At the following World Cup in 1999, English fans in particular were keen to see if the man who had wrecked their dreams four years earlier was still as deadly a force. They got their answer at Twickenham.

He followed that up with a monstrous display against France in a semi-final the All Blacks somehow contrived to lose. No one thought that would be the last we saw of Lomu in World Cup action, but then we didn't know how serious his kidney condition was.

There was no one else capable of spreading the sport’s name and values as far and wide as Lomu. The outpouring of tributes in just about every news outlet on the planet since his death is testament to that.

Former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga perhaps put it best, per the New Zealand Herald: "He single-handedly, I believe, put rugby back on the map. We've got to make sure we understand that and respect that. You go anywhere and, although the All Blacks are huge, the one player they talk about is Jonah Lomu. That's who they know."

In many cases, it takes the passing of time following the death or retirement of a sports star to objectively measure their impact on the world they inhabited.

Even Moses, with that incredible 122-race winning streak, was conscious long after hanging up his spikes that his true quality had gone underappreciated, per this quote he gave to the Guardian in 2003, some 15 years after his Olympic swansong in Seoul: "Maybe in the years to come, people will understand the things I have accomplished and realise, "Wow, this guy was really something. Nobody's ever going to do that again."

In the case of Jonah Lomu, it would be perfectly apt to remove the first 16 words of that soundbite. In our assessment of his talent, we have already arrived at the point Moses was still waiting for.

From the moment he bulldozed his way into the public consciousness, we knew we were watching someone we'd never see the like of again.