‘Pressure’s on them’: All Blacks hoodoo twist

His Wallabies teammates were “pretty angry” with Marika Koroibete, and it was a senior player who alerted team management about the booze session in his hotel room that earned a ban from last week’s Bledisloe Cup opener.

But all is forgiven ahead of the superstar winger’s likely recall for Saturday‘s rematch with the All Blacks at Eden Park that Australia has to win to be any chance of getting its hands on the trophy for the first time since 2002.

Down 1-0 in the series and needing to win the remaining two Tests to regain the Bledisloe Cup, Wallabies coach Dave Rennie is tipped to recall his strike winger.

Lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto is OK with that and said Koroibete, as well as Isi Naisarani and Pone Fa’amausili who were also involved in the hotel room drinking session, had been told by their teammates how much they had let the team down.

But they have also done the work to be welcomed back into the playing fold.

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto is happy to welcome back Marika Koroibete. Picture: Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

“Guys like Marika and those other boys, they’ve worked hard over the past week and a bit. As a playing group, (we feel) they’re good men who made poor decisions and we know that,” the lock said on Tuesday.

“We’ve been building this culture for the best part of two years now under Dave (Rennie) and his guidance and we have no problem with telling each other off or poking each other in the chest.

“Marika works extremely hard and everyone knows that. I’m sure the fans know that at home, how hard he works, so you could only imagine how gutted he was.

“So for us as a playing group, we accept their apology.”

Koroibete is bound for Japan at the end of the year, and Salakaia-Loto said that finite amount of games left in a Wallabies jersey was driving him to repay his teammates.

“Marika, you see every game that he plays, he treats it like his last,” he said.

“So if he gets the opportunity this week, he‘ll be exactly the same as what he’s been in the past.

“He’s been one of our best players that we’ve had.”

? No stopping @UeleseJordan from there!#Wallabies#BledisloeCup#NZLvAUS@[email protected]/SjCCCl0NrN

Three late tries last weekend, and a big input from bench players, helped the Wallabies finish off well in the opening game.

It still resulted in another loss at Eden Park, where the Wallabies haven’t won since 1986.

But hooker Jordan Uelese, who came off the bench to score one of those tries, said the late surge at an All Blacks stronghold could make the home team nervous this weekend.

“If anything, the pressure is not on us, it’s on them. No one wants to be in the first All Blacks team to lose at Eden Park,” he said.

“We’ve had a taste of what it’s like. It was a scratchy performance from both sides, so looking forward to a more polished performance, a better display of rugby.

“We have the manpower and the ability from 1-23 to be able to do a job and play to the final minute. We take great confidence in that.”

Source: Read Full Article