Recent years have offered few moments where Australia could claim an advantage over the All Blacks in the second row but the Wallabies will head to Eden Park on Saturday in a rare position of strength in the locking positions.
Brodie Retallick's shoulder injury comes as a huge relief for the Wallabies, who still have rueful memories of his marauding 2018 Rugby Championship campaign.
A constant menace at the breakdown and at lineout time, Retallick was instrumental in last year's morale-sapping defeat of the hosts in Sydney, where his audacious feint, step and touch-line sprint was awarded World Rugby's try of the year.
Scott Barrett's red card in Perth last week and subsequent three-week suspension is another boost for Michael Cheika's men.
Barrett's high hit on Australia captain Michael Hooper on the stroke of half-time helped the Wallabies to a 47-26 win while ensuring a test of the All Blacks depth just six weeks out from the World Cup.
Not that the Wallabies are publicly celebrating.
"They have got a lot of good depth there in New Zealand," Australia lock Rory Arnold, who started alongside Izack Rodda in Perth, told reporters in Melbourne.
"I’m sure the next bloke that comes in for those fellows will be just as good as they are."
The All Blacks have offered no clues as to who the "next bloke" will be, but Patrick Tuipulotu is the only lock with considerable Test experience left in the squad after stalwart Sam Whitelock.
Four-Test Jackson Hemopo and Vaea Fifita are also backups, though the latter has played all but one of his 11 Tests as a loose forward.
The Wallabies, meanwhile, fielded five locks in their match-day squad in Perth, with Adam Coleman and Luke Jones on the bench and utility forward Lukhan Salakaia-Loto starting at blindside flanker.
Even before Barrett's dismissal, the Wallabies' strength proved decisive in the collisions and elicited an honest admission from hooker Dane Coles that the world champions had been outmuscled.
The sight of big men in gold jerseys sending All Blacks sprawling was a sweet one for long-suffering Wallabies fans but not the only obvious improvement in Australia's game.
In the space of a year the lineout has been transformed from a national embarrassment into something of a force.
Australia lost eight of their 12 lineout throws in a chaotic start to last year's Rugby Championship in Sydney but won a tournament-best 90 per cent of them across their three matches this year.
"I don’t think we’ll be targeting the lineout saying we can get one over them," said Arnold. "But I think it’s going to be a very, very close contest."
The Wallabies are constantly reminded of another statistic, that whether in good form or bad, they have not beaten the All Blacks at Eden Park since 1986.
They will need to do so to claim the Bledisloe Cup - the annual series contested between the nations - for the first time since 2002. And the hosts rarely have two bad games in a row.
"It's in their backyard, they are a different beast there," Arnold said.
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
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'The Ice Road'
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
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2/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
