All Blacks Coach Steve Hansen has identified several areas where his side must apply pressure to beat a Wallabies unit he reckons has improved greatly.
New Zealand blew Australia away in the first half of each of the last two Bledisloe Cup season openers and have held the coveted trophy since 2003.
But the hard work of his Australian counterpart Michael Cheika in endeavouring to close the gap between the trans‑Tasman rivals hasn't gone unnoticed by Hansen.
Hansen says that Australia has done a lot of hard work on their running lines and their core set piece roles adding that their scrum has gotten better, looking at it against Ireland.
He is also overjoyed at welcoming back captain Kieran Read to his side for this weekend's Bledisloe Cup opener in Sydney.
32 year old Read, will play his first Test of 2018, not gearing up for the All Blacks since last year's end of year tour, where he suffered a back injury that required surgery in the off‑season, forcing him to miss June's series against France.
While addressing the media after naming his side to face the Wallabies, Hansen was nothing but complimentary of Read's return.
The Wallabies will host the All Blacks at 10.05pm tomorrow.
[Source: TVNZ]
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