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Sydney - New Zealand skipper Richie McCaw is not that interested in the turmoil in the Wallabies camp ahead of Saturday's Bledisloe Cup Test on Saturday and much more concerned about how the All Blacks react to a rare defeat.
The world champions were beaten for the first time in 23 Tests when they lost to South Africa in Johannesburg two weeks ago to bring a anti-climactic end to their third straight Rugby Championship triumph.
So despite the toxic row over Kurtley Beale's text messages that has completely overshadowed Australia's preparations for Saturday's match, McCaw said the All Blacks had been focusing on eradicating the errors in their game.
"To be honest, from my point of view, it hasn't really entered into what we're doing," he told reporters in Brisbane after the captain's run.
"We're playing the Wallabies and when you are an All Black coming off a loss, it hardens your resolve to play well.
"And all that extra talk is not going to help us or hinder us in any way, I just hope we have a good performance tomorrow night.
"A big part of this week has been focusing on what we need to get right and brushing up on the things we didn't get right last time out."
The 27-25 defeat to South Africa was clearly still playing on McCaw's mind and he is determined the team learns the lessons from it on Saturday at Lang Park, where Australia achieved their last victory over New Zealand three years ago.
"What we didn't get right two weeks ago was we gave them too much ball, turned it over too easily with poor skill execution," he added.
"Against good teams like the Africans and the Wallabies, they've got good enough players to make you pay. So we've got to make sure we don't let that happen.
"We were down three tries to one at halftime and it's a tough old road back when you give a good team those chances."
The All Blacks are already assured of retaining the Bledisloe Cup for another year after a 12-12 draw in Sydney and a 51-20 victory in Auckland in back-to-back tests against the Wallabies in August.
Even the Eden Park shellacking was not enough to allow McCaw to admit any kind of confidence that the All Blacks would win at Lang Park, though.
"You go back seven days before that, we should have gone down," he said. "Things change, you just need to get the job done from the start."
