Darren Lehmann, coach of the Australian Cricket team.

The man who dismantled England’s Ashes dominance believes a similar template of aggression and self-confidence can help the Wallabies’ quest to end the All Blacks’ Bledisloe Cup reign.

Australian cricket coach Darren Lehmann gave his appraisal yesterday ahead of a bromantic dinner between his team and the Wallabies squad in Sydney last night.

The two sides have a fast-developing camaraderie after the former Queensland connection of Lehmann and Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie saw the cricketers attend Australia’s first Test win over France in Brisbane in June as guests of honour.

In camp again this week, the cricketers are sharing a hotel with the Wallabies and the two squads, bursting with million-dollar names, broke bread and shared ideas at the Sydney Intercontinental.

Despite being entirely different athletes, there was much for the Wallabies to learn from Lehmann and Michael Clarke’s men after they ended five years of English dominance last summer to regain the Ashes.

Having lost 11 straight Bledisloe Cups, Australia must beat the All Blacks in the first of three Tests on Saturday night in Sydney to be any serious chance of finally turning the black tide.

Lehmann engineered the utter collapse of England with a return to an old-school brand of Australian cricket, centred on unyielding aggression and self-belief.

He believes the same factors are keys for the Wallabies.

“You have to do that (be aggressive) all the time,” Lehmann said.

“That’s the way we want to play, and the Wallabies, when they play that aggressive brand, they play well. And it’s the best to watch them when they play that way.”

Asked what his team focused on to beat England after three straight Ashes series losses, and could be also useful advice for the Wallabies, Lehmann said:

“We worried about ourselves, and that’s what the Wallabies are doing as well,” Lehmann said.

“We are going in to play the way we want to play and if we do that, we know we are going to be good enough.”

“But it’s a catch-22 isn’t it? You have to play that way all the time to be successful, so to have the confidence to play your way is pretty important. That’s the Wallabies are trying to develop, and do.”

“You are going to have hiccups along the way, it is just a matter of learning from them. Players are going to make mistakes and coaches are going to make mistakes, just learn from them, and improve.”

“We are probably only 70 per cent where we want to get to as a cricket team, so we have to territory to traverse still as well.”

McKenzie and Lehmann already appear to possess the same hymn sheet. Speaking before the teams’ dinner, the Wallabies coach said his group’s outlook would not be all black.

“We want to make sure we spend the week thinking about ourselves,” McKenzie said.

“We have a fair idea about what they (New Zealand) are about. But we can’t predict every scenario that they’ll bring to the table so we will have to adapt on the night.”

“We just have to make sure we bring our A-game and make sure we get to that, and put pressure on them.”

Lehmann said the cross pollination of ideas between top of the rugby and cricket trees in Australia would be a big benefit to both.

“We have both got pretty big campaigns ahead. We both have World Cups on the horizon,” Lehmann said.

“They’re different sports but our blokes love rugby and I am sure they’ll nuff them out with rugby questions, and they’ll do the same with cricket.”

“Variety is the spice of life sometimes, so it’s great to get an idea of how they go about their business and preparation. And same they’re keen to know what we do, so it works out well.”