Wallabies coach Schmidt eyes Eden Park ambush against home nation

Once the man with the plan in the All Blacks camp, Australia coach Joe Schmidt will look to land a decisive blow against his home nation in a pivotal Rugby Championship at Eden Park on Saturday.

The Wallabies lead the tournament by a point, giving Schmidt the chance to breathe life into a rivalry deadened by decades of New Zealand dominance.

With the All Blacks still reeling from a record defeat by South Africa, and the Bledisloe Cup also on the line, the stakes have arguably never been so high in a trans-Tasman test since the 2015 World Cup final.

As a selector, strategist and assistant coach under former All Blacks boss Ian Foster, Schmidt once played a part in prolonging Australia's "Bledis-woe".

The duo combined to deliver back-to-back Rugby Championships in 2022-23 and extend New Zealand's reign over the Bledisloe Cup, the annual series contested with Australia, to 21 years.

Foster's successor Scott Robertson retained the Cup in 2024, Schmidt's first season with the Wallabies, and needs only to win at Eden Park to lock the trophy away for another year.

From where Schmidt sits, that carrot alone will have the All Blacks breathing fire on Saturday.

"Having coached a number of them, I know how dangerous they can be," Schmidt told a press conference on Thursday.

"I think if you just about gave them a choice, they'd take the Bledisloe over the Rugby Championship. It is very much just the tradition of it."

Having lost their last nine matches to New Zealand, history is very much against a Wallabies breakthrough at Eden Park.

Three weeks ago Robertson's team beat South Africa 24-17 in a clash of the world's top two nations, extending their unbeaten run at Eden Park to 51 matches, the longest such streak at a single venue in test