They called him “Captain Blood”.
And it seems the same “take no prisoners” attitude that earned former Australian captain Tony Shaw his swashbuckling nickname in the 1970s is finally rubbing off on the Wallabies.
Ex-skippers Tony and Geoff Shaw – no relation – were announced as the next Wallaby Hall of Fame inductees in Brisbane on Wednesday.
And moments after reflecting on their bruising careers, they looked on as Wallabies assistant Nick Scrivener delivered what must have been music to their ears ahead of Saturday night’s Bledisloe clash at Suncorp Stadium.
“They are absolutely beatable – no one in our camp thinks otherwise,” he said of New Zealand.
Eyebrows were raised when Wallabies coach Robbie Deans and five-eighth Kurtley Beale claimed the world champions were “looking unbeatable” after 16 straight wins.
But Scrivener said on Wednesday: “I think every team is vulnerable.
“We have identified areas where we think we can apply pressure.
“We are not going out there hoping that something is going to happen.”
New Zealand have secured the Bledisloe Cup for another season but Scrivener said there was no such thing as a dead rubber.
“That is absolutely not the case for us,” he said.
“We are No.2, they are No.1 and we want to beat them.
New Zealand have not been beaten since last year’s Tri-Nations decider in Brisbane – a winning run lasting 14 months.
And Deans is searching for just his fourth win over the All Blacks in 18 trans-Tasman Tests.
Tony Shaw said it reminded him of the odds stacked against his side in the 1970s – and how they overcame them.
He said they dubbed themselves the “step forward Wallabies” in the 1970s after a hard-nosed approach helped them emerge from the shadow of the era’s dominant sides.
And he hoped the same attitude was adopted this weekend.
“The step forward approach is a mental attitude – it is almost a take no prisoners attitude which we employed at the time,” said Shaw, who played 36 Tests from 1973-82 and captained the Wallabies 15 times.
“The All Blacks have led the way in that.
“We have to have that ‘step forward Wallaby’ attitude again absolutely.”
Geoff Shaw – who played 27 Tests including nine as captain from 1969-79 – understood how dominant teams could earn a mental edge over others.
“It is possible to look at the opposition and be overawed by them but I am not denigrating this (Wallabies) team at all,” he said.
AAP lc/wk/ajw