{"id":169799,"date":"2025-09-26T06:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T06:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/169799\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T06:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T06:33:10","slug":"all-blacks-vs-wallabies-eden-park-history-phil-kearns-gary-whetton-new-zealand-vs-australia-rugby-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/169799\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks vs Wallabies, Eden Park history, Phil Kearns, Gary Whetton, New Zealand vs Australia rugby rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former All Blacks<\/a> captain Gary Whetton has accused Phil Kearns of talking “crap” after the ex-Wallabies skipper said there was “nothing special” about New Zealand’s rugby fortress.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies<\/a> have not beaten the All Blacks at Auckland’s Eden Park since 1986 and New Zealand are riding a 51 Test winning record at the ground against all-comers.<\/p>\n

Kearns, who won the 1991 Rugby World Cup and enjoys winding up Kiwis, said he couldn’t understand the mystique around the venue in an interview with Ian Smith and Riccardo Ball on Sport Nation.<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship with every match streaming live and on demand on the home of rugby, Stan Sport<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Phil Kearns of Australia is tackled by Mike Brewer of New Zealand at Eden Park.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“It’s the funny thing about Eden Park, because – I mean this with some level of respect – there’s nothing special about it,” Kearns said ahead of Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup Test.<\/p>\n

“It’s not like it’s got the massive grandstands and the very steep grandstands that you have at somewhere like Kings Park in Durban.<\/p>\n

“It’s not a 100,000 seat stadium like the MCG. It’s not like it’s got the tradition of Twickenham or the history of Murrayfield. It doesn’t have that.”<\/p>\n

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\"Gary<\/p>\n

Gary Whetton in action at Cardiff Arms Park.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Whetton, an Auckland and All Blacks stalwart who lifted the inaugural 1987 World Cup at Eden Park, listened back to Kearns’ comments with incredulity.<\/p>\n

“That’s crazy. Typical Kearnsy, that’s ridiculous,” Whetton responded.<\/p>\n

“What would he bloody know? What have they got? They’ve got Ballymore and this and that – Aussies don’t know. They don’t have grounds like that.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! The crew unpack Max Jorgensen’s Bledisloe Cup switch and Mark Nawaqanitawase’s impending return to rugby<\/p>\n

“It’s sacrosanct for New Zealand… if you want to put it against the Poms or whatever. For any team, the ultimate is to play at Eden Park and beat the All Blacks. What a lot of rubbish.”<\/p>\n

Kearns did, however, have plenty of nice things to say about the influence of New Zealand on the current Wallabies.<\/p>\n

He said both scrum guru Mike Cron and coach Joe Schmidt deserved huge respect for the work they had put in.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Mike Cron of the Wallabies at Allianz Stadium.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“Mike Cron is the guy who’s probably an unsung hero, because he is a very much a behind the scenes man,” Kearns said.<\/p>\n

“What he’s been able to do with the Australian scrum has been absolutely fantastic and we actually have a scrum now that’s got a solid footing.<\/p>\n

“Guys like James Slipper, you know, despite his age, and I don’t mean that disrespectfully, is scrummaging as well as I’ve ever seen him…<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Zealand coach Scott Robertson chats with Australia coach Joe Schmidt.\u00a0AP<\/p>\n

“Joe Schmidt is a very humble man, but what he’s been able to do, to instil that confidence and that belief in the team, is something that we haven’t seen for a couple of decades.”<\/p>\n

Schmidt, a former All Blacks assistant, said New Zealand still placed huge emphasis on the Bledisloe.<\/p>\n

“I think if you gave them a choice, they would take the Bledisloe over the Rugby Championship,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Wallace<\/p>\n

Wallace Sititi of the All Blacks celebrates with the Bledisloe Cup.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“Just the tradition of it. It’s older and more ingrained than the more modern Rugby Championship, as much as they certainly want to go after that and they’re in good position to do it.”<\/p>\n

Australia lead the Rugby Championship while New Zealand are under pressure following a record 43-10 loss to South Africa in Wellington earlier this month, heaping pressure on coach Scott Robertson.<\/p>\n

“I think if we can get the job done, it will be massive for us,” Wallabies captain Harry Wilson said.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Zealand perform a haka at Eden Park.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“It’s something which really excites us – history against us.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of belief that we can do it and it’s going to be an almighty challenge, which is something we can’t wait for. We’ve played a lot of big matches this year, which is something which gives the group a lot of confidence… we’ve been in the pressure cooker quite a lot this year.<\/p>\n

“So it is definitely something we’ll lean on this weekend, knowing that we’ve been here before and we’ve found ways out of it too.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Zealand perform a haka at Eden Park.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“It’s another heck of a challenge when you’re versing a team like New Zealand. We haven’t won over here in quite a long time.<\/p>\n

“History’s all against us, but that’s something which really excites this group.”<\/p>\n

The Wallabies wore special T-shirts at their Friday captain’s run to mark James Slipper’s impending milestone.<\/p>\n

Slipper will become just the third player to play 150 Tests, joining Welshman Alun Wyn Jones and New Zealand’s Sam Whitelock.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got a person like James Slipper playing his 150th game, someone who means so much to every single person in our squad, our staff,” Wilson said.<\/p>\n

“In playing such a big milestone game, it definitely adds a little bit more motivation, but it’s not all motivation that’s going to win us the game.<\/p>\n

“It’s us going to be sticking to our systems, playing good footy for 80 minutes.”<\/p>\n

Kickoff on Saturday is at 3.05pm AEST with coverage on Stan Sport from 2pm.<\/p>\n

ALL BLACKS (15-1): Will Jordan, Leroy Carter, Billy Proctor, Jordie Barrett, Caleb Clarke, Beauden Barrett, Cam Roigard, Wallace Sititi, Ardie Savea (c), Simon Parker, Tupou Vaa’i, Fabian Holland, Tyrel Lomax, Codie Taylor, Ethan de Groot<\/p>\n

Reserves: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Tamaiti Williams, Fletcher Newell, Patrick Tuipulotu, Peter Lakai, Cortez Ratima, Quinn Tupaea, Damian McKenzie<\/p>\n

WALLABIES (15-1): Max Jorgensen, Harry Potter, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Corey Toole, James O’Connor, Tate McDermott, Harry Wilson (c), Fraser McReight, Tom Hooper, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Nick Frost, Taniela Tupou, Billy Pollard, James Slipper<\/p>\n

Reserves: Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Angus Bell, Allan Alaalatoa, Jeremy Williams, Carlo Tizzano, Ryan Lonergan, Tane Edmed, Filipo Daugunu<\/p>\n

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former All Blacks captain Gary Whetton has accused Phil Kearns of talking “crap” after the ex-Wallabies skipper said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-169799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}