New Zealand are looking to become the first team to retain the World Cup, but their head coach, Steve Hansen, who is involved in the tournament for the fourth successive time after leading Wales in 2003, says they see themselves as contenders rather than defenders.
The last time the All Blacks arrived at a World Cup as holders was in 1991, when England were again the host nation. They were knocked out by Australia in the semi-finals and made one more final before winning the trophy four years ago.
“We are contenders just like the other 19 teams in the tournament,” says Hansen, speaking at a function organised by Bulgari, the All Blacks’ sponsors. “We know we have talent but you need the right attitude and you have to earn the right to progress through the round robin and then the knock-out stage. If you expect it to happen, it won’t; you have to make it happen. We are here to win the World Cup, but you achieve that through effort, not wanting.”
New Zealand used to punish coaches who failed to deliver the World Cup, but that changed in 2007 when the triumvirate of Hansen, Graham Henry and Wayne Smith were reappointed even though the All Blacks had failed to make the last four for the first time, beaten by France, who may lie in wait in Cardiff in the last eight next month, in the quarter-final in Cardiff.
“The All Blacks have had a good enough team to win all the World Cups, but they made mistakes and some of the preparation and attitude were not quite right, expecting to win because they arrived with a lot of success behind them,” says Hansen. “It was only in 2007, when we were given another go as a coaching group, that we took ownership of it.
“Our history outside World Cups was outstanding but in them it was not so great. One of the reasons for that was up to 2007 we changed the coach after every one. That year I and my fellow coaches, Graham Henry and Wayne Smith, felt a deep responsibility for the result and really wanted to learn from the mistakes we made and rectify them in 2011.
“When you are a new coach coming in after a bad tournament, it is easy to say you are not responsible for it. In 2007 we were. That made us look harder than we had ever done and that was the biggest lesson of all: you have to take responsibility.
“We cannot ignore the prospect of having France in Cardiff in the quarter-final again. We would have to deal with it but what happened in 2007 will have no effect on now. We can get caught up in that and put ourselves under unnecessary pressure or we can accept it is a possibility and get on with it. The bottom line is we have to turn up, whoever we are playing, otherwise we will be going home.”
As in 2011, but not the previous three tournaments, the All Blacks have arrived at the World Cup having lost their southern hemisphere supremacy. “We played pretty well in the Rugby Championship and the last Bledisloe Cup game, but that will not be enough to win the World Cup,” says Hansen. “We know we have to improve. You have to build momentum in this tournament to gain confidence.
“The tournament brings out an extra intensity and purpose that other Test matches do not have. While we have to win every Test match between World Cups, I am not sure that is the case with other teams. I think they would like to, but it is not the end of the world if they don’t. What we know in this tournament is that everyone will turn up and they will be full of desire and commitment. We have to increase ours.
“We will have to adjust our training weeks to make up for the pool we are in, although people will be surprised at how physical Georgia are. We know Argentina and Tonga will be.
“There are pluses and minuses to being in a tough group like England. To go through seven weeks of really physical rugby without a break is hard, but if you have too many soft games you can get to the quarter-finals not ready for the intensity that comes and get knocked out, as we know.
“The history books tell you the tournament usually favours the host nation. England are in a really hard pool: Australia and Wales will have plenty to say about it and Fiji will be a very awkward team to start with. You have to be mentally ready to play them because they have players of real quality.”
