Veteran All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu expects a sizeable step up in intensity in their next Test, against a Wallabies side stiffened by their series against the British and Irish Lions.
Mealamu admits New Zealand’s 3-0 clean sweep of France comes with an asterisk as the tourists were feeling the effects of a gruelling European club season.
That won’t be the case for the Wallabies, who they face in the opening Test of the Rugby Championship on August 17.
Mealamu says they will be a potent unit in the wake of the three-Test Lions series, which began on Saturday with a gripping contest in Brisbane, won 23-21 by the Lions.
“I’d expect that second one to be just as big,” he said.
“By the time we come to the Championship, they (Australia) will be battle-hardened.
“I just think it will be another step up for us. Obviously, the French had just finished a long season and they came down here probably a little bit tired.”
The host nation for each of the past three Lions tours has gone on to win that year’s Tri-Nations, as it was before Argentina joined last year to establish the Rugby Championship.
Australia won in 2001, New Zealand in 2005 and South Africa in 2009, with the Springboks that year sweeping the All Blacks 3-0 in their meetings.
Mealamu, 34, said it felt unusual not to start a Test himself during the French series.
Battling hard to keep his 12-season international career afloat, he came off the reserve bench to replace Dane Coles in the first Test and Andrew Hore in the third to register 104 caps.
“It’s different. But the powder’s dry and I’m ready to go when I get a chance,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mealamu and inside centre Ma’a Nonu both recorded their 12th win over France in the 24-9 third Test victory at New Plymouth on Saturday, equalling the world record held by former England prop Jason Leonard.