All Blacks open in their plans to target rookie Wallabies centre Reece Hodge

The All Blacks are making no secret of intentions to exploit the Wallabies' inexperience at outside centre in Saturday's Bledisloe Cup opener in Sydney.

In the absence of injured regulars Samu Kerevi and Tevita Kuridrani, the Wallabies don't have a specialist option for a position which poses many challenges in defence.

Utility Reece Hodge is expected to fill the Wallabies No.13 spot with fullback Israel Folau another option.

All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster also threw up utility Matt Toomua's name on Tuesday ahead of the Wallabies team announcement on Thursday.

Foster says that they are pretty interested who turns up and they've got some good options there, but certainly it's not the easiest thing to get right defending at 13.

The All Blacks also have a midfield vacancy to fill in the absence of inside centre Sonny Bill Williams but they can call on ultra‑reliable Ryan Crotty.

The Wallabies will host the All Blacks at 10.05pm this Saturday.

[Source:TVNZ]

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