The program for the Sydney Bledisloe encounter will say Qantas Wallabies versus All Blacks. But for many, the underlying contest will be almost as important – the one pitting the man who would have been AB coach against the man who still is.

Whoever emerges victorious from this long-awaited grudge match between the coaches of the two failed World Cup quarterfinalists will be feeling a delicious strain of schadenfreude. But it is ‘Dingo’ Deans who will feel it the sweetest.

Since taking over the Wallaby job mid-year, Deans has been feted in the Australian media. Like starry-eyed flower children overawed by a religious guru, the Aussie reporters seize on Deans’ every utterance as though it were mana from rugby heaven.

Deans has parried their questions in his typically under-stated Kiwi way, rightly sensing that an overcooked Australian rugby marketing machine already has plenty of hype merchants without him talking up the Bledisloe test.

But in a rare unguarded moment in his television interview following the Wallabies’ impressive win over the Springboks last Saturday, Deans’ smile told us he is relishing the opportunity this weekend to put one over his nemesis Graham Henry and prove that the NZRU made a monumental error in not clearing the coaching decks post-World Cup.

Certainly, Deans has the playing personnel to do the job. His backrow trio made life difficult last Saturday for a Bok team that looked like it had already climbed the mountain in its two-point victory over the ABs in Dunedin.

The much-derided Wallaby scrum also performed creditably against the Boks, while the Aussie lineout was at its efficient best. Combine that with backline stars Giteau, Mortlock and Tuqiri and you can understand why the Aussies smell blood.

The All Blacks, meanwhile, are still getting over the disappointment at Carisbrook, a narrow defeat which ended a record run of home wins and gave the dreaded Boks their first victory in New Zealand in a decade.

Their loose forward combination looks raw and experimental since Jerry Collins’ departure. And while there are signs that Richie McCaw has made a miracle recovery, one wonders if the cartel risks rushing him back too soon. Certainly without McCaw, it is difficult to see the ABs winning this one.

Bear in mind, also, that Homebush has been a graveyard for All Black teams, most notably in that semi-final of 2003. Compounding the Olympic stadium voodoo this time may be a relative absence of Kiwi support – with reports of poor ticket sales from across the Tasman.

Counting against the All Blacks most of all, though, is the fact that the man now coaching their biggest modern rival was the brains trust to their own key personnel just two months ago. McCaw, Ellis, Carter, Somerville and Macdonald could be excused for feeling like Luke Skywalker lining up against Darth Vader.

Like Vader, Deans knows the power of the force in those All Blacks. And having surrendered to the dark side himself, he will use all of his wily ways to bring them undone. But will Graham Henry emerge as Yoda, even wilier than his adversary?

Henry will be more desperate to win this than Deans, who unlike his rival has the luxury of a long honeymoon period. Henry is more like the wayward husband to whom the long-suffering and unforgiving wife has given a final chance. He knows he can’t afford to blow it, least of all a Bledisloe Cup.

It took the All Blacks five years to win that trophy back last time they lost it. They have now held it five consecutive years and will not let it go without a hell of a fight. It is their most precious baby.

How ironic, then, that the man most likely to take it off them is one of their own.