All Blacks feel 'more prepared' for World Cup than they did in 2019

2019 offered the All Blacks the chance to make history by becoming the first team to win three consecutive Rugby World Cups, having become the first team to win two consecutively in 2015. It was not to be, a thorough dismantling at the hands of England in the semi-final saw the side battle it out for bronze.

That loss still hangs heavy on the hearts of various players and coaches in the environment, including defence coach Scott Mcleod.

McLeod joined the All Blacks set up in 2017 after the British and Irish Lions series, becoming a key contributor to the 2019 World Cup campaign.

Now, comparing the two build-ups, the assistant says he and head coach Ian Foster both feel the team is in a better place than they were this time four years ago.

“I went to the last one,” he told The Platform. “We didn’t do so well there so really, really excited about what’s coming up in the next couple of months in France.

“I had a chat with Ian Foster about this the other day, it just feels like we’re a bit more prepared, just mentally and understanding our game and I guess our DNA and what we’re about, it just feels like we’re a bit more prepared in that space.”

Being more prepared doesn’t mean they’re where they need to be though, McLeod emphasised previous comments by Ian Foster about the improvements that need to be made and added his perspective on what areas need to see the most growth.

“Probably in our collisions with the backs, but also at the breakdown. We’re not at the highest standard that we need to be in being able to turn the ball over in those breakdowns and that starts with the collisions, getting that really accurate, right, and being almost brutal into those breakdowns to be able to get the ball back.

“So we’ve been chipping away at that for the last couple of years, we keep finding opportunity and the boys are growing in that space.”

The trends that dominated the 2019 tournament were box kicking and the rush defence, two areas that the All Blacks struggled to adapt to and ultimately couldn’t overcome in the knockout stages.

“They are still relevant, what you see now though is a lot of teams are trying to play you through the middle of the field, they’re trying to bunch you up there or create redundant defenders, so they’re defending nobody and then they just swing with loads of numbers into an edge of the field, for one side of the field and they make you make decisions there.

“So they have runners out the front, runners out the back, and they’ll hit wherever they think the space is.

“That has really grown in the attack game across the northern and southern hemisphere in the last couple of years.”