DO NEW ZEALAND have the forward power to mix it with France in Friday night’s blockbuster World Cup opener? Or could the mounting pressure on the host nation become a debilitating factor as France seek their first ever World Cup triumph.
There were some of the questions knocked around on today’s Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
“When the likes of Scott Barrett, Sam Cane, Codie Taylor, Dane Coles are at their nuggety best they can certainly mix it,” said Murray Kinsella, rugby journalist with The 42. “But yeah the evidence of the past year or so it’s just that those teams who’ve been ahead of them or beaten them have probably got a bit more might up front and a bit more proven quality.”
Kinsella said the All Blacks are a seasoned team, and looked to be getting the balance right until their 35-7 defeat to South Africa last month.
“There’s so much experience in that New Zealand squad. It actually took me a few days to compile all the caps in every squad and the New Zealand squad is just over 1500 caps.
“It’s actually more experienced than the 2015 squad which I thought would take some beating, but they’ve got four centurions, loads of guys who’ve got kind of 70-plus, 50-plus caps so you’ve got massive international experience.
“And finally a bit of cohesion and form I guess in the last year albeit the most recent outing wasn’t a happy one for them. I think they’ve just settled on who works best where. Jordie Barrett I’ve seen is a bit of a doubt this week, and he’s really important at 12 in kind of tying it all together. He had a bad day against South Africa, but otherwise was outstanding in that role.
“So the backline has actually clicked more because the forwards have been more solid and delivered better ball but also because they have just been in the right order on the pitch.
“They’re in a really nice position for this game. I underestimated the pressure that’s going to be on France until I got over here.
“Like, hosting is such an advantage and still in my mind it is when things go well and you’re front runners, but it can be a negative as well. New Zealand in 2011 – you think about and it was kind of fraught the whole way through and how they (France) manage that . . .
“Certainly it would be a massive dent to them on Friday night to lose – even though they’ll still go through and you still have a tough quarter-final (if you win the group).
“New Zealand can afford to lose this and still go into a really tough quarter-finals and still need to be absolutely peaking at that stage. Whereas a defeat for France is essentially the same thing, but it’s far more costly and it just mounts that pressure at home.”
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