Deans in upbeat mood

Skipper Elsom proud of Bledisloe Cup effort

Last updated: 1st November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Deans in upbeat mood

Deans: England on Saturday

We'll be better for this performance. We're back playing rugby, which we hadn't done for two months, so that's a good launching pad now for us to push on to the UK.

Robbie Deans
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England v Australia
Saturday November 7, 2.30pm KO, live on Sky Sports 2 and HD2

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Australia head coach Robbie Deans insists his side will be all the stronger for their 32-19 defeat by New Zealand in Tokyo.

Defeat in the final Bledisloe Cup match of the year extended the Wallabies' run of consecutive defeats to the All Blacks to seven.

But, with a midweek game against Gloucester looming followed by a Test against England at Twickenham on Saturday, Deans has been quick to look ahead.

"We've got an exciting opportunity ahead of us now," said Deans. "This was our last southern hemisphere outing (of the year) and we have a great tour ahead of us, which we're really looking forward to.

"We'll be better for this performance. We're back playing rugby, which we hadn't done for two months, so that's a good launching pad now for us to push on to the UK.

Australia skipper Rocky Elsom added: "This was the end of our domestic season and for a lot of reasons we had a score to settle there. But it didn't happen, obviously, and we look at England now and get into our tour.

"We're very frustrated because that opened up for us more than any other game this year but we just weren't able to take advantage of it.

Intensity

"I couldn't fault the guys for effort. I was really proud of the effort they put in and the intensity they brought to the match. But it wasn't good enough for us, which is a big problem.

"Fortunately for us, we've got England to think about and they'll be looking at us as the southern hemisphere team that they'll be most likely to beat."

New Zealand head to Cardiff for a date with Wales next weekend boosted by an impressive win against the Wallabies in Wellington, with another solid outing in Japan.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry said: "It's very good going forward and gives us a lot of momentum.

"I think we probably played at about 70% capacity, which means we've got a lot to work on.

"But if you can get a win it does give you a bit more confidence and momentum going in and it's always better when you're travelling 12 and a half hours in a plane to have a win under your belt."