Rugby World Cup: All Blacks fighting to stay sharp as the business end kicks off this weekend in Japan
- While Tokyo and Oita will host two intriguing quarter-finals, New Zealand versus Ireland will be the premier heavyweight battle
The champs are getting restless and who can blame them. Two-time Rugby World Cup defending champion New Zealand All Blacks have not officially played a match in 11 days since destroying Namibia 71-9.
Combined with the cancellation of their final pool match against Italy last Saturday because of Typhoon Hagibis, as well as their dismantling of Canada 63-0 before that, it has been almost a month since they played a competitive match when they beat South Africa 23-13.
After kicking off one month ago with host Japan taking on Russia, the business end of the World Cup is finally here. Rivals England and Australia will get things started tomorrow down in Oita followed by the All Blacks and Ireland in Tokyo in the evening.
Wales and France meet on Sunday also in Oita with the highly anticipated match between hosts Japan and South Africa later that night at Tokyo Stadium.
As they prepare for the quarter-finals, All Blacks captain Kieran Read admitted that despite a number of productive training sessions recently, there is no way to create the intensity needed to win at this level.
“You can’t replicate a finals game in a World Cup, obviously it’s different,” Read said on Thursday in Tokyo. “But all of the teams are in that situation and we have been training as well as we can and are in a great position to go out there and perform on the field.
One team’s probably feeling it’s their turn to win one. But that doesn’t guarantee it, does it. With that comes a different kind of pressure
“A lot of it comes to down to your mental application and we have been working on that. It’s a huge honour to be part of the finals format in the World Cup and obviously a huge game against Ireland.
“We know how close the games have been with them over the last few years and it’s an exciting challenge.”
While the Irish were on the wrong end of the tournament’s biggest moment when they were upset 19-12 by Japan, they came into the World Cup the number one ranked team in the world and have had more success recently against the All Blacks than any other squad.
In their past three matches, Ireland have won twice – once in Chicago at Soldier Field three years ago and last year in Dublin at Aviva Stadium.
Still the World Cup is a completely different and grander stage, a fact reiterated by one member of the Irish media, who asked a rather telling question of All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen.
“Steve, can you just walk me through the dynamic of one team that’s never won a knockout game at a World Cup,” he asked, “versus a team that hasn’t lost one in a long time.”
“Well”, said Hansen, “one team’s probably feeling it’s their turn to win one. But that doesn’t guarantee it, does it. With that comes a different kind of pressure.”
It’s the type of pressure that Hansen would seemingly be immune to at this point. No other coach in the tournament has his pedigree, having directed his side to championships in 2015.
However, regardless of past achievements anything less than a championship in Japan will be considered a failure.
“One of us will going home after this game,” Hansen said. “That’s just the cold hard facts of the World Cup. We experienced it ourselves in 2007 [when they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by France] and there are no guarantees we won’t experience it again.”
A long time horse racing fan, the elimination match with Ireland will not be the only thing on Hansen’s mind tomorrow. As part owner of Nature Strip, a thoroughbred horse who will be running earlier in the day in the A$14 million sprint race The Everest in Sydney, he admitted that he will be eagerly following the race as well.
“I hope so,” he said. “It’s a $14 million race. But that’s out of my control too. I’ll leave it in the hands of the trainer. He’s a good one.”
When asked whether the race or rugby match carried more significance, he laughed before adding: “The one you have some control over. I guess you could say my second horse will be the All Blacks on Saturday, although I am not too sure the boys will liked being called horses. There’s not a lot I can do though [with Nature Strip[. I can’t ride him or carry him.”
