Wallabies legend Nick Farr-Jones has heightened pressure on embattled All Blacks coach Graham Henry with his prediction that disgruntled New Zealand fans will "death ride" their national team in Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup blockbuster in Sydney.
Farr-Jones said he was staggered at the level of disenchantment among All Blacks supporters over the NZRU's decision to reappoint Henry ahead of the hugely popular Deans after New Zealand's World Cup failure last October.
"Unbelievably, you're going to have a percentage of Kiwis supporting the Wallabies for that very reason," Farr-Jones said after becoming the 13th player voted into the Wallabies Hall of Fame.
"I've been to New Zealand a couple of times this season and I've got to say I was quite amazed to see the reaction of the New Zealand public.
"I've never seen anything like that, to the extent that there's quite a few people that in a bar over a beer will tell you that they death ride the All Blacks.
"I never thought that I'd hear in my day that New Zealanders could actually death ride, they could hope that their team loses because they're well aware that Henry's on a two-year contract (and) they want to see him go.
"That's a sad thing for the wonderful, proud history and culture of New Zealand rugby.
"But it shows you the animosity that some people have taken against the decision and of course losing Robbie.
"But Robbie's loss to New Zealand rugby culture is of course our gain."
Farr-Jones said the coaching battle is "going to be a huge talking point in New Zealand" and, although he tried to play it down, Deans admitted on Monday he'd only had "probably one" conversation with Henry in "the last four or five years".
And after serving as John Mitchell's assistant coach when the All Blacks won the Bledisloe Cup back from the Wallabies in 2003, Deans said most text messages he'd received from across the Tasman were from New Zealand fans wishing him luck trying to return the trophy to Australia.
"People are entitled to their own choice and their own motivation," Deans said.
"It's not really something that I or we will be dwelling on. I just hope there's interest, and I suspect there has been a little bit of interest generated in my involvement here.
"If that manifests itself in a way that creates a real cauldron, then that's great."
With Australia, New Zealand and South Africa each sitting on one win after three games in the nine-Test Tri Nations tournament, Farr-Jones acknowledged Saturday's match as critical.
And he had high hopes for the Wallabies after Australia's impressive win over the world champion Springboks last Saturday.
"It will be tough but I'd have to say, after the weekend in Perth, that arguably we've got the best defensive team in the world and we all know that generally speaking 50 per cent of the game is defending," Farr-Jones said.
"So the All Blacks are going to have to be very clever to crack our defence.
"If you've got the best defensive team in the world, then you're right in the game."
While injured All Blacks captain Richie McCaw made an ominous return to training on Monday after a month out with an ankle injury, his Wallabies counterpart Stirling Mortlock sat out Australia's session after suffering a head knock against the Boks.
Deans, though, was hopeful his skipper, along with "sore" back-rowers Wycliff Palu and Rocky Elsom would be available for the team's full-body contact session on Tuesday and up for selection on Wednesday.
