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Rugby Championship: Breaking Down New Zealand’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Published: July 30, 2013
England were on fire at Twickenham that day, New Zealand strangely lackluster and coming to the end of a long season. But until such time as they can prove it was just a blip in their perennially high standards, there will be some doubt over the vintage of this current crop of All Blacks.
It is one of sport’s truisms that there is no such thing as a weak New Zealand team, and they proved that yet again by comfortably winning this summer’s Test series against France 3-0. They weren't at their best, but that was still too good for France.
But whether they will be good enough to match their record of last year will depend on whether they have managed to banish the demons of their record defeat to England.
The form of their Super 15 teams certainly gives reason for optimism, with defending champions Waikato Chiefs reaching the final after edging past the star-studded Canterbury Crusaders 20-19 in a clash of real quality.
None of the Chiefs players were named in the preliminary All Blacks squad announced Monday, but coach Steve Hansen was able to recall World Cup-winning skipper and New Zealand’s favourite son Richie McCaw following his six-month sabbatical from rugby.
McCaw’s leadership and breakdown ability will again be crucial to New Zealand’s chances, as will the game management and goal-kicking of star fly-half Dan Carter. Hansen certainly thinks his captain is ready for the challenges ahead, as reported by ESPN.
He’s in pretty good shape. By the time it gets to August 17 he’ll have had two more games, so at this point he’s coming along nicely.
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