‘No pressure’ say record-seeking All Blacks

Argentina have included seven World Cup debutants in a youthful team to take on the All Blacks in the Pool C opener.

McCaw oozes the All Black sleight of hand of talking nice and saying little, of providing respectful doses of regard and consideration to Argentina, their opponents at Wembley on Sunday, and at the same time hinting at the futility of the opponent’s task.

People say they choke in the World Cup – but they’ve been the best team on the planet consistently for such a long time. So we are more used to it.

Ben Smith, the All Blacks full-back who is a comparative rookie, with 41 caps to captain Richie McCaw’s 142, described Pumas wing Juan Imhoff – a hat-trick scorer against South Afirca this year – as “dangerous, so we’ve done our homework on them to shut down their space and limit opportunities for players like that”.

The New Zealanders put a full stop to the promotional activities that were a focal part of the first four days after their arrival in London and turned their attention exclusively on their opening game against Argentina on Sunday.

The Hakarena – a mash up of the tradition New Zealand haka and the Macarena – was created by England 2003 World Cup victor Matt Dawson and it’s gone viral. “Tomorrow is going to be a lot of things, not just maul or scrum; we want to play a 15-man game”.

The All Blacks have two World Cups to their name (1987 and 2011), but this bunch will still be trying to pull off something the side has never achieved: winning the tournament on the road.

Global pop star Paloma Faith is to sing a brand new version of rugby anthem World In Union for the theme tune to ITV’s exclusive coverage of the Rugby World Cup. They own a chain of gyms, and are renowned gym rats, so much so that they were lifting weights the morning after the 2011 final win over France in Auckland. That’s the message I give to the players – don’t assume anything. We’ll just worry about Argentina this week.

He said: “It would be awesome to win it again, but you realise you have to earn everything you get from a tournament like this”. Indeed, it’ll be the only chance the All Blacks have to fully test their “A” game before the quarter-finals.

“Many New Zealanders can’t afford to pay for a subscription to private broadcaster Sky to watch our national teams and athletes compete. How we use that luck and how we deal with the bad luck will determine how far we go into this tournament”, he said. They failed, lost 20-18 and returned Down Under in ignominy.

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