The All Blacks starting team for tomorrow's World Cup final picked itself. That tells us as much about their state of health, the planning of Steve Hansen and their brains trust, and most of all about this fairly stellar, celebrated and settled group of players, who stand one game away from history and true greatness. That's all.
Unchanged from the team which started their epic semi-final with the Springboks, this was presumably the plan all along? “Yep,” said Steve Hansen. End of debate.
This makes them fairly remarkable alright. Were they to beat Australia tomorrow, they will become the first team to retain the Webb Ellis Trophy with their 54th win in 57 matches under Hansen since last lifting the trophy. A bunch of them will ride off into the sunset including, incredibly, seven who started the win over France in the decider four years ago.
Most All Blacks are the equivalent of royalty in their homeland, where pretty much every boy and man dreams of emulating them at some point, and most probably many points, in their lives.
Their format of three players sitting alongside each other in front of a phalanx of cameras, dictaphones and journalists (which must have numbered well over 100 at England’s remote and customary Pennyhill Park base in Bagshot yesterday) does not lend itself to much more than soundbites on behalf of brand All Blacks and adidas. But when asked what it was like being an All Black, Ma’a Nonu (one-to-one, a pleasant, chatty lad) became relatively effusive by the standards of his utterances at these events.
“For me it was always a dream. You go through college and you see the All Blacks playing overseas, especially in South Africa or the UK, rugby is a big part of how we grow up, it is part of our history, it is a part of who we are as men. That is what we strive to become. When you become an All Black, it is more than just playing rugby, it is representing your country, your family. All rugby players want to do is play the best footie with your best mates and go into battle.”
Dream
Succinctly put, and when the same question was put to Richie McCaw, he echoed those comments. “Similar. When you are a young fella growing up playing rugby, you want to be an All Black. That is your dream. The first time, I never wanted the moment to finish,” he said in reference to that debut against Ireland at Lansdowne Road in November 2001.
“Every time since, I always take a moment during the week, to realise how lucky you are to pull on the black jersey. Then, once you get past that, it’s about leaving something of yourself in there. That is what being an All Black requires – that you add to what has gone before. You don’t want to let it down. That is the attitude I’ve had. You don’t ever want to let it down.”
Although he's heard it before, New Zealand broadcaster cum journalist Nigel Yalden never tires of listening to it. "It's the pinnacle of sporting achievement in New Zealand. It even tops an Olympian in my personal opinion."
That legacy. Of leaving something of yourself in the jersey. They’ve all done that regardless of tomorrow’s outcome, and some especially so. Were they to retain the cup, then even more of them than is already the case will be entitled to stand alongside the shoulders of some of the true legends of All Blacks’ rugby. Indeed, it could be argued that they’ll have left too much of a legacy. How on earth do you follow that?
Extraordinary
But that’s for another day, and so too is everything else after this game, even though one or way or the other it will mark the end of some extraordinary careers.
“We’re not too aware of the guys leaving to be honest,” said Kieran Read yesterday, maintaining a theme of the week. “We haven’t really spoken about it. It’s about this group here. There’s a 31-man extended squad that we’ve got here at the moment and we’ll just go out there and do our best. It’s a World Cup final, so there’s nothing better than that.”
And by extension, nothing bigger; not even this being an All Blacks farewell for their greatest ever outhalf, as well as for Nonu and another centurion in Keven Mealamu, the 96-times capped Conrad Smith, and, though their skipper declined to look beyond this game (that would be another distraction), most probably for McCaw himself too.
The one man who can does go a little off-message – consistently and entertainingly – is Hansen, who repeated previous eulogies to McCaw.
“It’s pretty well documented what I think. I think he’s probably the greatest player we’ve ever had play the game, certainly for New Zealand.
A bit of flak
“As a leader, he copped a bit of flak in ’07. In my mind, leaders aren’t made, they are grown. You’re not born a leader, you learn through your experiences, and a lot of those experiences can be negative ones that you have to learn pretty sharply from. He copped a lot of flak in ’07, he’s grown through that adversity. He is now probably one of the great leaders of all time, to go with being a great player. And he’s a good bloke, so he’s got the trifecta.”
