All Blacks too savvy to see their dream destroyed

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10 April 2012

The open-top bus parade is arranged and a public holiday already in the calendar to ensure New Zealand's World Cup triumph brings this nation to a standstill on Monday.

Unfortunately, they are relying on the French to be obliging guests and not throw an almighty spanner in the works by actually turning up for Sunday's sell-out final and playing as if they deserve equal billing with the greatest team on the planet.

New Zealanders have waited 24 years to host another World Cup after the 1987 tournament culminated in a 29-9 triumph over the French.

The same Eden Park pitch provides the stage for this latest Cup meeting between what injured star Dan Carter calls the All Blacks' "arch nemesis" - and that is due to the 1999 and 2007 wins France conjured up against all the odds when New Zealand were supposed to romp to victory.

As a result, the All Blacks have been labelled "chokers" ever since that first triumph because they have, every four years, found various ways not to repeat that marvellous achievement.

Now, four million New Zealanders expect their unbending support to be rewarded with a second success on home soil to turn a year that saw Christchurch disfigured by a terrible earthquake into one of the most uplifting they have ever experienced.

The portents are good as no previous French squad have ever been this divided or the subject of such scathing criticism from their own coach. The increasingly strange world of Marc Lievremont has dominated the build-up to the final and pictures carried in a local paper of the coach, who is being dumped after the final, show him smoking a cigarette while seated on a ledge next to an open window through which he blows the smoke out, as he is not allowed to light up in the room.

Lievremont reportedly spends a lot of his time puffing away, looking pensive, and there must have been times during this tournament that he felt like following the smoke out of the window.

His players have taken charge of team matters, gone out drinking when he said "Non" and taken every opportunity to tell anyone who wants to listen they don't care much for the comments their head coach utters in public.

It has taken Colin Meads, one of true legends of All Black rugby, to put the nation right about stories of a French Cup challenge in turmoil - "it's all bulls**t", was his verdict. While that may lack depth and explanation, it does neatly sum up the way head coach Graham Henry and his All Blacks are viewing the opposition on Sunday.

Quite rightly, Henry is ignoring the fact France lost two matches in the pool stages and that Les Bleus benefitted from the harsh red card handed out to Wales captain Sam Warburton in the semi-final as they went on to win 9-8.

While France have stumbled into the final, they do possess individuals like Maxime Medard, the Wolverine look-alike at full-back, six-try Vincent Clerc on the wing, a solid scrum, reliable line out and, in Dimitri Yachvili, a tactically astute kicking scrum-half. It has been men like Yachvili who have taken control of this French side, dictated the rather limited game plan - with tactical kicking the first and second options - and given the team purpose and a cause to believe in.

All of these threats will have figured large in the All Blacks team meetings along with the acknowledgement that France will attempt to rough up Aaron Cruden, the third-choice outside-half, who is playing only because first Carter and then Colin Slade suffered groin injuries. France will attempt to rupture the link between the impressive Piri Weepu, at scrum-half, and young Cruden because the All Blacks have a back division containing every possible running threat.

Ma'a Nonu can punch holes in midfield for fellow centre Conrad Smith to exploit, while wings Cory Jane and Richard Kahui plus full-back Israel Dagg will tear you apart with pace and precision.

That is why the World Cup will be won or lost by the All Black pack under captain Richie McCaw, a man who has been playing in constant pain from a broken bone in his foot, held in place by a metal screw. It is an obvious target for French boots at the ruck. McCaw, Jerome Kaino and No8 Kieran Read will become the most-capped loose forward trio in All Blacks history, playing their 21st Test together, and that kind of understanding will be vital in the face of the French trio of captain Thierry Dusautoir, Julien Bonnaire and Imanol Harinordoquy.

It will be up to Weepu, who also has the goal-kicking duties, to ensure the All Blacks are not mentally shackled by the occasion and he will set the tone by leading a Haka whose ferocious challenge will set the tone for the game.

McCaw's men won the pool clash between these sides 37-17 and a similar margin should be achieved on Sunday to send this nation into delirious and well deserved celebration.

Coverage from New Zealand is brought to you in association with Greene King IPA, crafted in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, with 100% English ingredients and with over 200 years of passion and dedication in every pint. To win tickets for future England games go to properpint.co.uk

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