Rugby Union - by Craig Hill

as a golden opportunity to inflict a huge psychological blow on the All Blacks.

The loss over here has probably damaged their psyche already, particularly in a World Cup year....They've probably got doubts in a World Cup year anyway with the way the last three World Cups have gone

"So I think we've already put a bit of doubt in their mind, but (another win) would hurt them even more,

THE All Blacks are so edgy about the Wallabies beating them on Saturday night that they wheeled out the Bledisloe Cup for a show and tell yesterday in the hope it would motivate the troops.

All Blacks players last night explained the fear factor of losing the cup for the first time since 2002 weighed heavily on their minds, especially after senior identities lectured them on how important this piece of silverware was for the wellbeing of their country.

All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina said the cup was on its way to the New Zealand team hotel in Auckland to take pride of place at a players' meeting, where the emphasis would be on the power and glory surrounding the trophy.

After being presented by the New Zealand Governor-General Lord Bledisloe, otherwise known as "Chattering Charlie" Bathurst, in 1931 as a symbol of trans-Tasman rugby supremacy, the cup was lost for some years, rediscovered in a Melbourne cellar and is now treated as a sporting holy grail.

With the cup next to them, former All Blacks skipper, coach and now Test selector Sir Brian Lochore, along with senior players Anton Oliver, Aaron Mauger and Richie McCaw, told the squad that keeping the cup was the best way to destabilise the Wallabies and make them feel second-rate.

"The older heads have already spoken about how long it took to get the Bledisloe Cup, and those dying moments when they've lost it," Muliaina said yesterday.

It was repeatedly stressed at the meeting that even though the All Blacks have held the cup for five seasons, Australia had a stranglehold on it from 1998 until 2003.