All Blacks seeking to erase 24-year angst
Source: Agencies |
October 23, 2011, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NEW Zealand seems impelled by history toward its second Rugby World Cup, carried on its tide toward a final against France which offers the hope of atonement to a nation which has waited 24 years for a second title.
On the same ground where it won the first World Cup in 1987 and against the same country - a team described by star All Blacks playmaker Dan Carter as its "arch-nemesis" - New Zealand will attempt today to bring to an end a painful history of World Cup favoritism and failure.
Flanker Richie McCaw, New Zealand's most-capped player, hopes to become the first All Blacks captain since David Kirk to lift the Webb Ellis Cup for an Eden Park crowd in Auckland.
The All Blacks entered this tournament as favorite, as they have done in almost every World Cup since the first event which they conceived and hosted and which they won with such ease that a notion seemed to enter into the minds of Kiwis that the Cup belonged to New Zealand almost as a legacy.
As each intervening tournament passed without success - with high expectations, favoritism and dashed hopes - the optimism of New Zealanders turned to silent pessimism, cynicism, then despair that no-matter how well-planned, every All Blacks campaign was doomed to failure.
Unimpressive form
Now, with the All Blacks in a home final and facing a French team which comes into the decider in unimpressive form, New Zealanders have allowed themselves to feel optimism again. The All Blacks are ranked No. 1 in the world, and their favoritism has grown with every step of a carefully planned and well-executed campaign.
New Zealand has comfortably won all of it matches, by margins in pool play of up to 76 points, and have turned aside Argentina and Australia in its quarterfinal and semifinal with relative ease.
But a faint sense of unease remains around the fact that only France stands between New Zealand and its second victory in three World Cup finals appearances. France has twice beaten New Zealand in World Cup knockout rounds and Kiwis would feel more confidence if the All Blacks were to face any other team.
France's campaign has been so dysfunctional, it's form so continuously poor - two losses in pool play, including a 17-37 loss to the All Blacks; an 9-8 semifinal win over 14-man Wales - that a French victory is seen as almost inconceivable.
But France will try to use its status as an underdog, the almost insulting dismissal of its chances, as motivation for today's final. Even impartial commentators say New Zealand not only should win but deserves to win.
On the same ground where it won the first World Cup in 1987 and against the same country - a team described by star All Blacks playmaker Dan Carter as its "arch-nemesis" - New Zealand will attempt today to bring to an end a painful history of World Cup favoritism and failure.
Flanker Richie McCaw, New Zealand's most-capped player, hopes to become the first All Blacks captain since David Kirk to lift the Webb Ellis Cup for an Eden Park crowd in Auckland.
The All Blacks entered this tournament as favorite, as they have done in almost every World Cup since the first event which they conceived and hosted and which they won with such ease that a notion seemed to enter into the minds of Kiwis that the Cup belonged to New Zealand almost as a legacy.
As each intervening tournament passed without success - with high expectations, favoritism and dashed hopes - the optimism of New Zealanders turned to silent pessimism, cynicism, then despair that no-matter how well-planned, every All Blacks campaign was doomed to failure.
Unimpressive form
Now, with the All Blacks in a home final and facing a French team which comes into the decider in unimpressive form, New Zealanders have allowed themselves to feel optimism again. The All Blacks are ranked No. 1 in the world, and their favoritism has grown with every step of a carefully planned and well-executed campaign.
New Zealand has comfortably won all of it matches, by margins in pool play of up to 76 points, and have turned aside Argentina and Australia in its quarterfinal and semifinal with relative ease.
But a faint sense of unease remains around the fact that only France stands between New Zealand and its second victory in three World Cup finals appearances. France has twice beaten New Zealand in World Cup knockout rounds and Kiwis would feel more confidence if the All Blacks were to face any other team.
France's campaign has been so dysfunctional, it's form so continuously poor - two losses in pool play, including a 17-37 loss to the All Blacks; an 9-8 semifinal win over 14-man Wales - that a French victory is seen as almost inconceivable.
But France will try to use its status as an underdog, the almost insulting dismissal of its chances, as motivation for today's final. Even impartial commentators say New Zealand not only should win but deserves to win.
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