YOKOHAMA – THE Wallabies’ quest to win back the Bledisloe Cup is lost for another year.

But Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks at Nissan Stadium is anything but a dead rubber.

With the World Cup less than a year away, every Test is vital, particularly given their opponents are the back to back world champions and the venue will host next year’s final.

Here are five talking points ahead of the Test.

What chance, if any, do the Wallabies have of leaving Yokohama with a victory?
If you tuned into the Wallabies’ second-half performance in Salta, one might have thought they were world beaters.

But to win a Test match against the All Blacks you have to play exceptionally for the best part of 80 minutes and seldom do the Wallabies do that.

At present, the only consistent element to their game is that they’re inconsistent.

If they manage to string two halves of rugby together they can beat the All Blacks, whom, it must be said, have also had their consistency issues over the past two years.

The difference between the two nations being that when the All Blacks do get it right, more often than not they blow you to pieces.

In Sydney and Auckland, the All Blacks’ opening halves were riddled with errors and the Wallabies managed to be right in the contest.

Except the Wallabies weren’t able to strike with the same impact to blow the game open like the All Blacks did to take the game away in the second half on both occasions.

More recently, the Springboks showed that with a rock solid defence and a killer’s instinct on turnover ball, that the All Blacks can be beaten.

For the Wallabies to win, it’ll be a major upset.

In the Wallabies’ favour though is that Steve Hansen has slightly shuffled his All Blacks side around.

Ben Smith is the best fullback in the game, but Hansen has moved him onto the wing and Damian McKenzie will wear the No 15 jersey.

Elsewhere, TJ Perenara will make a rare start ahead of Aaron Smith at halfback, while Brodie Retallick, widely regarded as the most influential player in the game, will come off the bench in his return from an injury.

If the Wallabies win, who will be the man of the match?
David Pocock will obviously have a huge role to play.

He won the John Eales Medal by a country mile and is probably the only player in the Wallabies side that would currently make a world XV.

But Bernard Foley is the Wallaby that must fire for Australia to stand a chance.

The Wallabies have been guilty of attacking too wide, too early.

In Salta, during the Wallabies’ biggest comeback, they finally let their forwards, many of whom are good runners of the ball, to truck it up before spreading the ball wide.

It worked like Panadol soothing a headache.

Foley’s kicking game, particularly if it is wet as forecast, will be vital too.

His kicking, in both general play and from the tee, was brilliant in Argentina and one of the reasons for their remarkable victory.

Has Michael Cheika picked the right team?
Everyone’s eyes would have popped out when reading Rob Simmons had been named to start.

Just as interesting was Cheika’s decision to give his veteran lock a rocket during his press conference immediately after settling on the side.

But, before you laugh, it might be the right call.

Perhaps not in the short term, especially if the Wallabies get dominated physically, but long-term it could provide a number of answers for the side’s recent lineout struggles.

Simmons has come into the starting XV because regular lock and lineout caller Adam Coleman is out with a groin injury.

While Coleman’s physicality and ball-carrying ability are two of his great strengths, the lineout has been shambolic in 2018 — the Wallabies won just 76 per cent of their throws during the Rugby Championship — and he is in charge of it.

If the Wallabies’ lineout improves significantly against the All Blacks, it might not mean that Simmons — who will be playing his 91st Test — is the answer but, rather, that Coleman may not be either.

Elsewhere, the selection of Sefa Naivalu is a beauty.

Hopefully, his lack of top-flight rugby doesn’t hurt him, but Naivalu’s speed has been missed out wide.

By having Taniela Tupou, Tolu Latu and Jack Dempsey come off the bench too, Cheika will have some explosiveness in the important final 30 minutes of the match.

Has Steve Hansen gambled with his selection?
The short answer is no.

But is it his strongest XV at present?

No.

As touched upon earlier, the All Blacks are at their best when Ben Smith is at 15.

He is the complete fullback and, crucially, the safest.

The last three Tests that the All Blacks have lost, Jordie Barrett has been at fullback on two occasions and McKenzie the third.

As electrifying as McKenzie is, he is still prone to making the odd blunder and can be beaten in the air.

Meanwhile, Perenara has been chosen ahead of Smith.

His promotion should be seamless because he will partner his Hurricanes teammate Beauden Barrett in the halves, but he’s replacing arguably the best halfback in the world.

Retallick is world class too, but he’s been eased back in via the bench.

So it’s not Hansen’s best side.

But long term, those called into the starting side will gain some invaluable experience and it will benefit the squad as the build into next year’s World Cup.

Has New Zealand’s decision to take the game to Japan been a good one?
Nissan Stadium isn’t likely to be at capacity, with a crowd of 50,000 predicted.

But their decision to take the match to Japan was a strategic one, as they hope to get accustomed to the local culture ahead of next year’s World Cup.

It would be a shame if more and more Tests were taken outside of Australia and New Zealand, but on this occasion it seems like a shrewd piece of planning.

The Japanese culture is very different to the rest of the rugby world.

Everything from the food, the language, covering tattoos and waiting patiently at lights rather than jaywalking, even when it seems safe to cross, is different.

By playing the Brave Blossoms in Tokyo next weekend too, the All Blacks will have spent two entire weeks in Japan adjusting to the cultural differences.

If they win the World Cup next year, the time spent here now might be one of the crucial factors behind their success.