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'Give them every chance': Can the ABs win the World Cup?
By Finn Morton
After a dreadful start to their international season, the All Blacks appeared to a turn a corner against Wales – before a disastrous draw with England.
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The All Blacks started their 2022 season with an emphatic 42-19 win over Ireland at Eden Park, but the men in green well and truly made their mark, and etched their names into rugby history.
Ireland had never won a Test match against the All Blacks in New Zealand, but back-to-back wins saw them not only rewrite that history, but record their first ever series win in Aotearoa.
Out for revenge, the All Blacks lost their next Test against South Africa – their fifth loss in six matches – before bouncing back with a win at Ellis Park.
While the All Blacks were unable to back up that win with a first ever loss to Argentina in New Zealand, the three-time world champions went unbeaten for the rest for the year.
The All Blacks won every major trophy that was on offer in 2022, including The Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup and Freedom Cup.
But after recording a commanding 55-23 win over Wales at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, the All Blacks had to come from behind against Scotland – before wasting a big lead the week after.
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The All Blacks were in control against England leading 25-6 with less than 10 minutes to play, but three rapid tries saw the hosts salvage a once unlikely draw.
While New Zealand failed to win five of their 13 Test matches this year, Sky commentator Fauono Ken Laben is still giving the All Blacks “every chance” to win next year’s World Cup.
“I give them every chance. The fact that they’ve done so well and have been able to turn it around, they’ve faced a bit of adversity,” Laben told The Rugby Run on SENZ.
“I give them every chance to being successful at the World Cup next year.”
The All Blacks raced out to an emphatic 14-nil lead after tries to Dalton Papali’i and Dalton Papaki’i early in the Test against England at Twickenham.
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But with Beauden Barrett in the bin, England ran in three ties inside the final 10 minutes to seal what was once an unlikely draw.
“Well firstly it was a great occasion, and if we were going to look at if from a strictly New Zealand point of view we would be difficult, we would be disappointed with 25-all,” he said.
“It is interesting Kama (Ian Jones), looking at the top tier countries standing when you go back to the era that you played, we were very dominant on the world scene.
“It wasn’t that long ago that all of these northern tours were just about be pushovers for us, and it doesn’t seem that long ago we were questioning the viability of even having them considering the lack of competitiveness of the Northern Hemisphere teams.
“Thing have changed over the last four or five years. We look at Argentina beat England, last week we look at that thrilling game between France and Australia.
“They’re all a reflection of just how close it is in the elite level now to win.”
Openside flanker Dalton Papali’i has been one of the All Blacks’ most consistent performers throughout the end-of-season tour, after getting his chance to shine in the place of injured captain Sam Cane.
Papali’i has actually performed to such a high standard, that some believe he should replace Cane in the All Blacks’ starting XV.
However, Laben disagrees with that point of view, saying Cane will “be the captain and Dalton would be on the bench” at the World Cup.
“There is no doubt that Dalton Papali’i is a world class number seven, but Sam Cane is the captain. He’s going to get an entire summer… to prepare for 2023.
“He will be the captain and he will lead the team into the World Cup next year. On his day, he is the best seven in the world.
“Dalton Papli’i, he’s very close but he’s not at the level, in my view, of Sam Cane.
“I’ve talked to a number of senior All Blacks who I know well and they have a very, very high regard for Sam’s toughness, for his attitude and for his leadership.
“If I had to pick the All Black team tomorrow and everyone was fit and available, Sam would be the captain and Dalton would be on the bench.”
Of course they can win it, but the odds of stringing a series of results together in consecutive weeks against increasingly strong opposition is low even if this was the best team in the world.
But they aren’t the best team in the world. The inconsistencies are not conclusive, but they decrease the odds of winning substantially. At the moment, if we are honest, most of NZ are more concerned about losing our reputation based on the results of the last few years.