The Rugby World Cup 2015 is less than a year away now and the question that comes to mind is “Can anyone beat the All Blacks?”
Graham Henry recently suggested that it would be a good thing for the All Blacks to lose a pre-World Cup game as it would “galvanise the team and make them re-analyse their position”. His comments went down like stale Tui beer in New Zealand but he may have a point. It is a tricky one as no coach would ever admit to wanting to lose but I am sure All Black Coach Steve Hansen would prefer a loss this year than in the quarter-final of the RWC!
Can Anyone Beat The All Blacks in the 2015 Rugby World Cup?
The last time the All Blacks actually lost a Test was December 2012 against England at Twickenham, where they were beaten 38-21. England were as surprised as anyone by the result but after that loss the All Blacks picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, said “Damn that was embarrassing” and “Never again” to the world in general and have not lost since. This year’s draw to the Wallabies in The Rugby Championship prevented the All Blacks from breaking the record of most consecutive victories, 17 (a record they share with the Springboks) but are still unbeaten in 20 games – which is an incredible achievement and further adds to my theory that the All Blacks are cyborgs from the future.
So which teams are the most likely to beat the mighty robot All Blacks? In my opinion there are only four: South Africa, Australia, England and France.
Les Bleus have beaten the All Blacks twice in Rugby World Cups, once in 1999 and once in 2007, and both were considered huge upsets at the time. They were beaten in the final in New Zealand in RWC2011 but it was a close game and I reckon the All Blacks would rather not face them in another RWC knock out game. Interestingly, if Les Bleus finish second in Pool D and the All Blacks win Pool C, they will indeed face each other in the quarter-finals. Of course you never actually know which French team will arrive on the day but they will have huge ‘home ground’ support.
England came very close to beating the All Blacks in June this year in New Zealand with a so-called ‘weakened’ side, and will have one more chance to beat them before next year when they play them in November. If certain results go as some (the English) are expecting they should, the English Roses should meet the All Blacks in the RWC Final, where they will fancy their chances, especially in front of thousands of passionate fans (and no doubt some royalty).
The Wallabies have the best recent result against the All Blacks, a draw at a very wet and windy Sydney, and could well face them in the semi-finals. They will get one more bite of the cherry this year in the final Bledisloe game and again in next year’s abbreviated Rugby Championship. The Wallabies need their forwards to fire if they are going to go deep in the tournament and even though Coach Ewen McKenzie has made a big difference since taking over, the scrum is still a big problem and if it wasn’t for sketchy scrum tactics they would have no chance at all.
The Springboks recently lost a classic Test to the All Blacks in Wellington in a game they could have won if they had shown more composure and better decision making in the last few minutes. Springbok Coach Heyneke Meyer has added an attacking edge to the Springbok style of play (they were the leading try scorers in 2013), but their strength will always be their physicality, powerful scrum and dominant line-out and they will be incredibly tough to beat on the slower fields in the Northern Hemisphere.
I can’t shake the feeling that the Springboks need to beat the All Blacks before the RWC if they are going to have a real chance in the semi-finals, which is where I expect them to meet. England will need to play the best rugby they have ever played and still have a tackle-bag load of good luck if they are going to beat them in the Final, which is where they may meet if results go their way.
So there you have it – the Springboks and England appear to have the best chance of beating the All Blacks at the Rugby World Cup, but it will take a very special full squad effort… or, a poor officiating display, which the Rugby World Cup is famous for.
Of course the one team that may still end up defeating the All Blacks in RWC2015 is themselves; the old ‘chokers’ tag coming back to haunt them yet again. The All Blacks have lost three RWC knock out games for which they were absolute favourites to win, (four if you count the RWC95 Final), which I am sure each and every team will rightly be reminding them of as often as possible. Pressure can do strange things to a team and always being expected to win can have its drawbacks. But the All Blacks are well aware of the label and Steve Hansen has already pre-emptively addressed it in the media this year.
It would be a foolish man who bets against the All Blacks successfully defending the William Webb Ellis trophy but that man is me and I have already done so.
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