Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom vowed yesterday to take New Zealand to the wire in a Bledisloe Cup thriller in Hong Kong in a bid to end their 10-Test losing streak against the All Blacks.

The flanker said his players, ranked number two in the world behind their trans-Tasman rivals, need no prodding to be up for the glamour tie next month, despite having already handed the cup to New Zealand with three defeats in the four-Test series.

“There’s no more motivation or reason required other than the fact that we are playing them,” said Elsom, who has played 59 times for his country.

“They have a pretty heavy winning streak against us. And just in general, because of the number of Tests they’ve won in a row, they have their run to play for and for us... we don’t need an extra reason to want to beat them.”

New Zealand go into the tie as Tri-Nations champions and, after a last-gasp 23-22 victory by the All Blacks in Sydney earlier this month, both teams go to Hong Kong finalising preparations for tours of the northern hemisphere.

Elsom, 27, who has been a Wallabies regular since his try-scoring debut in 2005 against Samoa, said fans could expect a fast-flowing spectacle of rugby in the 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium on October 30.

“I think we’ve seen the game opening up more and if there’s any two teams you want to see open up it would be us and New Zealand – and that’s what we plan to do,” he said, speaking to reporters in Hong Kong via a telephone link-up from Australia.

With the series outcome already a fait accompli there were suggestions earlier this month that the match could be moved to London’s Twickenham stadium, amid sluggish ticket sales.

Wallabies spokesman Matt McIlraith said: “Although the Bledisloe Cup can’t be won it’s certainly not a dead rubber in the eyes of our guys. And I’m pretty sure, knowing a lot of the All Black blokes personally, it’s the same for them.

“There’s not many games now before the World Cup and for us, every chance to have a crack at the All Blacks is critical.”