“Oh Argentina”, replied a tongue-in-cheek Hansen when quizzed on the greatest threats to New Zealand’s crown.
Advertisement
The company said: “With some committed fans planning to attend every Springboks game during the World Cup, GoEuro.com has calculated that they will spend up to R333 353 getting to the United Kingdom and following their team around the country”.
“It’s a small risk, but when you look at it he wouldn’t have played in both the first two games, so he misses one game”.
“My confidence has gone right up as a result of the half I played against France then the Ireland game”. This year’s probability for the All Blacks to win is slightly lower than in 2011, when Forsyth Barr proffered that team had a 43 per cent chance of winning.
Critics of the union have pointed to the minority of nine non-white players on coach Heyneke Meyer’s 31-man World Cup squad as evidence SARU has dragged its heels on racial transformation in the sport.
“They’ve learned from previous World Cups and all the preparations and dealings we’ve had with them have been fantastic so we’re excited about that”.
“I have been frustrated because the good story we have been telling has been falling on deaf ears; and we do have a good news story to tell”, he said.
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. “It’s also more important because it will ensure an automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup“.
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.
And while the performance of referee Wayne Barnes was a contributing factor, perhaps the most glaring reason for the loss was the All Blacks failure to execute a drop-goal.
The All Blacks won’t incur the wrath of the New Zealand rugby public as they did in 2003 and 2007 should they not win the World Cup this time, a leading sports psychologist says.
“If we do that, we make it possible to do what we want to do”.
It can be rough at times but that is just part of being an All Black.
“The first thing is we can’t fear that”, he said.
“I talked myself up, of course – you’re fighting for your place, after all”.
“Most of the guys coming back from injury will be in the match 23”.
Advertisement
Hansen says they’d be naive not to expect the British press to fire a few barbs their way.
