Dave Rennie knows the task ahead of him is an almighty one, but the decision to pick Jordie Barrett was the one selection from counterpart Ian Foster that surprised the Wallabies coach ahead of Sunday's Bledisloe Cup opener.
After being the form fullback of Super Rugby Aotearoa, Barrett was selected on the right-wing to accommodate his older brother and two-time World Rugby Player of the Year, Beauden, after All Blacks selectors picked Crusaders playmaker Richie Mo'unga at fly-half.
It's the same 10-15 combination that the All Blacks went in with at last year's World Cup, where the back-to-back champions were dumped out in the semi-finals by England.
Jordie Barrett has started on the right-wing in three Tests, but is considered first and foremost a fullback.
Asked where, if at all, the Wallabies could attack the All Blacks, Rennie gave a clue by expressing his surprise that Foster had picked Barrett on the wing.
"It’s a hell of a side isn’t it?," Rennie said, on announcing his 23 to take on the All Blacks on Friday morning.
"And pretty predictable.
"The only guy that I didn’t have in there was Jordie Barrett on the wing.
"I thought Anton Lienert-Brown would be at 12, maybe move Goodhue out and have Rieko (Ioane) on the wing. But Jordie has been in such great form and they needed to find a spot for him."
Nonetheless, Rennie said the All Blacks represented a formidable side and said that for the Wallabies to have any chance of winning their first match in New Zealand since 2001, they had to keep their opponents to less than 16 points and take their opportunties.
"There’s not a lot of weaknesses there, are there?" the former Chiefs coach said.
"As I mentioned, we’re going to have to defend really well and for long passages. We need to be really aggressive to try and force them to kick or to try and turn over some pill.
"Then it’s about the quality of our decision-making and the quality of our skillset under pressure is going to be important. We certainly want to play but we’ve got a plan. To beat a side like this we’re going to have to play really well."
For weeks the Wallabies had been preparing for Foster to continue with the Mo'unga-Barrett duel playmaker combination.
While the electric combination didn't quite click in 2019, the speed and playmaking ability means the All Blacks represent a lethal threat in attack.
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The Wallabies got a taste of that during their reality check loss at Eden Park last year when the All Blacks scored twice in as many minutes in the first-half to break the hearts of Michael Cheika's men.
But during their 19-7 semi-final loss to England last October, Eddie Jones' men managed to force the All Blacks into mistakes with a quick linespeed in defence and huge pressure at the breakdown, led by flankers Tom Curry and Sam Underhill.
Asked whether the Wallabies would attempt to replicate England's game-plan, which also proved effective during their heartbreaking 16-15 defeat at Twickenham a year earlier, Rennie said the constant was having to defend well and being in the game for the entire 80 minutes.
"The sides that have beaten them have defended really well so you can't get away from that," Rennie reiterated.
"We've put a lot of time into our defence but it's got to be constant. The ability of the ABs is to score in a heartbeat, or score twice in five minutes , we are well aware of the threats there.
"We need to be able to apply pressure through our defence. The sides who have had success against them have defended really well so we're aware that's an important part for us."
Meanwhile, Rennie has picked four debutants in his maiden Wallabies side.
Rennie emphasised that the team had been picked on form, but said the experience of the halves would be important for uncapped Reds duo Hunter Paisami and Filipo Daugunu.
