Winning back-to-back Rugby World Cups will be an imposing challenge for the All Blacks, and history isn’t on their side.
Quarter finals, semi finals, and finals – the fact is that New Zealand have never been able to win a World Cup away from home.
With the loss to the Wallabies on the weekend, it served a good lesson to audiences that on their day, the All Blacks can put on a below average performance.
The immediate reaction from the New Zealand public was ‘rather we lose now than at the World Cup’.
All Blacks face massive challenge going forward
History is a crucial factor in any World Cup – and not only is history not on the side of the All Blacks – recent performances away from home suggest that it would be something of a surprise if the All Blacks to go through the tournament undefeated.
The All Blacks have lost twice in the last year – both games were away from home.
But couldn’t this be said for the likes of the Wallabies and the Springboks as well? It has been some time since either side has come to New Zealand and left with a victory.
Unlike the All Blacks, the Wallabies and Springboks have both won World Cups in the North, so it is time for the All Blacks to do the same.
Last time the Rugby World Cup was held in England; it saw the All Blacks lose to France in London at the semi final stage.
Perhaps a savior for the All Blacks is the amazing amount of depth in the squad. Four solid options at first five eighth led by Daniel Carter, a powerful midfield, and the world’s toughest assignment at the breakdown in the form of Richie McCaw is a side capable of winning the World Cup on its own. That isn’t scratching the service on all the others waiting in the wings, many of whom will miss the trip to the World Cup, but all of which can aid the All Blacks if injuries occur.
In New Zealand, opinion is that Steve Hansen will choose to take two halfbacks to the tournament in order to leave room for a fourth first five eighth option, but caution needs to be taken with selecting so many options for one position, because it is all too easy to fall into the traps of rotation.
Beauden Barrett and Colin Slade can play at fullback and one the wing, but Daniel Carter and Lima Sopoaga are specialist playmakers.
This will perhaps be one of the more difficult selection dilemmas come August 31st when the World Cup squad is announced.
It has been argued that such a weak pool could hurt the All Blacks come the knockout stage of the World Cup, because the only real test for the defending champions in pool play is Argentina. That fact, coupled with history, suggests a real challenge for the All Blacks to retain the World Cup in 2015.
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