Wallabies fullback Kurtley Beale said a resilient attitude can turn around the struggling team’s fortunes against the dominant All Blacks.

New Zealand reinforced their status as the top-ranked team in world rugby by winning the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup for an eighth consecutive year and are poised to recapture the Tri-Nations trophy off South Africa.

The All Blacks kept their unbeaten Tri-Nations campaign on track with a 20-10 victory over the Wallabies in Christchurch last Saturday and are only one point away from claiming the Tri-Nations crown for the 10th time in 15 years.

Beale conceded New Zealand were only going to get better leading into next year’s World Cup at home, but said the Australian team’s belief was growing.

“We won’t get overwhelmed. Coach Robbie Deans has done a fantastic job to keep us this close together,” Beale said yesterday.

“If we just knuckle down and focus on our game strategy and focus on what we have to do and turn up with the right attitude, we can do anything.

“It’s a young group and I think it’s a really good balance for the group and we’ll stay together... we’ll be ready to show everyone what we’re really about.”

The Wallabies are now playing for second place in this year’s Tri Nations, but Beale said achieving that by beating the Springboks in South Africa would give his team-mates a massive confidence boost.

“We know that if we can’t be number one at the moment, we’re trying to aim to be number two and it all starts with our two-week tour in South Africa,” he said.

“It was a disappointing loss against the All Blacks last week but we’ll take a lot of positives and it’s a huge step from the week before.”

The Wallabies’ next Test will be against South Africa in Pretoria on August 28 followed by another in Bloemfontein on September 4 with Australia not having won at high altitude in the republic since 1963.

Beale, centre Anthony Faingaa and his twin brother, hooker Saia Faingaa, were all part of a record indigenous representation in an Australian national rugby team last weekend.

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