The All Blacks prepared to fly out to England for the World Cup yesterday, still haunted by the upset quarter-final loss to France in Cardiff at the 2007 tournament.
That recurring nightmare coupled with the All Blacks inability to win a World Cup away from home, despite consistently dominating the rankings, has forced coach Steve Hansen to ram home the message that there is no room for arrogance.
The All Blacks, the defending champions after winning in New Zealand four years ago, could potentially meet France again in Cardiff in the quarter-finals if the pools go according to seedings.
Photo: AP
“We’ve just got to be smart about what we do during the week [between games],” Hansen said.
“We didn’t do that in ’07 and I thought that was one of our mistakes,” he said.
“The catch-cry of 2011 was: ‘Expect the unexpected’ and I don’t think we did that in 2007,” Hansen said.
“I think we rocked up a little arrogant possibly, like previous All Blacks teams over the years may have, too comfortable having come off being the No. 1 side for a long time and just expected it to happen,” he said.
Captain Richie McCaw, heading into his fourth World Cup campaign, said if the All Blacks are to achieve their aim of being the first side to win back-to-back World Cups, it was important they learned from past mistakes.
“We’ve got to make sure that we use that memory and that understanding of how little a change in attitude or just a bit of mindset can make a huge difference,” McCaw said.
McCaw added that the squad received a timely wake-up call when beaten by Australia 27-19 in Sydney last month before bouncing back to thrash them in Auckland a week later.
“We’ve got to make sure we don’t get to a Monday like we did after the one in Sydney and go: ‘We need to fix this,’ because we don’t get a second chance in what’s ahead,” he said.
The All Blacks assembled at Auckland airport with Hansen saying Waisake Naholo was on track to play in the All Blacks’ third pool match against Georgia after his rapid recovery from a fractured leg.
Naholo, the top try scorer in Super Rugby this year, was expected to miss the World Cup altogether before his leg healed after being treated with a traditional herbal concoction in Fiji.
“His rehab has come along really good, he trained today, and as every day goes past he gets better and better,” Hansen said. “So he’s on track to do what we expect him to do, which is be available for Georgia.”
Hansen acknowledged Naholo’s selection was a risk, “but the rewards outweigh that risk,” he said.
“He comes back against Georgia, gets another opportunity against Tonga, and then if we’re good enough we’ll be in the quarter-final, and if his form is good enough he’ll play,” Hansen said.
With the exception of Naholo, all the All Blacks are expected to get a run in the first two games against Argentina and Namibia, with Hansen indicating he will mainly use his form players for every game after that.
The All Blacks were heading to London without inside center Ma’a Nonu, who fell ill yesterday and would not board the flight as a precaution.
Nonu is to fly out tonight instead, the All Blacks said on Twitter.
The All Blacks’ first game of the World Cup is against Argentina at Wembley in London on Sunday next week.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS