Sydney - New Zealand are pinning their hopes on Australia beating South Africa to keep alive their hopes of retaining the Tri-Nations.
The All Blacks stayed in the hunt with a nailbiting 19-18 win over Australia on Saturday but know their chances will be over before they even play again if the Boks win their next two matches against the Wallabies.
"We need the Aussies to get up in the next two Tests," New Zealand coach Graham Henry said on Sunday. "And I think they're good enough to do the job, they just need to have that rub of the green, I suppose. Hopefully they can do that and that gives us a sniff."
The Australians are also holding out hope of winning the title despite losing their first three matches of the annual series.
They're at the bottom of the standings on two points with South Africa on 12 and New Zealand, who have played a game more, on eight.
The Australians flew out of Sydney on Sunday for Perth, where they will host the Springboks next week. The sides will meet again in Brisbane a week later.
Wallaby coach Robbie Deans said the Australians would have to quickly get over the disappointment of their loss to New Zealand if they hoped to upset the South Africans, who won their first three matches of the series at home.
The Wallabies led 12-3 at half-time on Saturday and were still in front with less than two minutes to go when they conceded a late penalty, which Dan Carter converted to give the All Blacks a narrow win. - Reuters