Rugged Rocky Elsom awaits the All Blacks with the Wallabies keen to test his fitness at a three day training camp in Sydney this week.

While the All Blacks have called a training day in Auckland on Wednesday to try to help sort out their struggling game, the Wallabies are going to busy themselves at the end of the week following their loss to the Springboks.

They have a three-day training camp from Thursday.

The All Blacks and Wallabies trail the South Africans on the Tri-Nations points table and their desperate position has upped the ante for their clash in Sydney on August 22 that doubles as a Bledisloe Cup encounter.

The Wallabies will effectively have a week and a half of preparation in-house while the All Blacks are again using the Air New Zealand Cup this weekend to give some of the squad much-needed game time to try to play them into a bit of form.

The Wallabies will have a keen eye on Elsom, the physical back-rower whose re-introduction to the Australian side has been stalled by a knee injury collected while playing in the Heineken Cup final for his Irish club Leinster. He was named man of the match in the 19-16 win over English club Leicester.

Elsom's European sabbatical has left him keen for test action but frustrated with his injury predicament.

There's every indication that he will be in the mix to meet the All Blacks, adding depth to the Wallabies' talented back row and certainly upping the physicality of the Australians.

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans resisted the temptation to take Elsom, who has 40 test caps, to South Africa believing the long-term benefits lay with his introduction for the second half of the Tri-Nations campaign where the Wallabies have three home matches and a final test against the All Blacks in Wellington on September 19.

Elsom was a huge force the last time the All Blacks played in Sydney when they dismantled the All Blacks 34-19.

Injury meant he wasn't part of the mix a week later when the All Blacks reversed the scoreline with a stunning 39-10 effort in Auckland.

Graham Henry's side have to come up with a similar sort of revival for this coming match after their game went alarmingly off the boil in South Africa where they were soundly beaten by the Springboks on successive weekends.

RUGBYHEAVEN