Physicality will go a long way in deciding the Rugby World Cup, says a man who was part of the first team to ever win it.
Sean Fitzpatrick was recently named by Sir Graham Henry and Sir Wayne Smith in the legendary coaches’ ultimate All Blacks XV. The hooker was named ahead of greats like Kevin Mealamu and Dane Coles for his role in changing the position throughout his career.
Casting his expert eye over the current state of his former team, Fitzpatrick labelled physicality the key issue for New Zealand.
That wasn’t the case back in 1987 when Fitzpatrick and co were on the quest to become rugby’s first-ever world champions. That famous campaign did however have different, more unusual adversity to overcome compared to the modern game.
“In 1987, we didn’t know what we were doing,” Fitzpatrick told the Rugby World Cup 2023 Official podcast. “We had our final trial on the Saturday before the opening game, and the team was named that night. We assembled on the Wednesday, and our coach didn’t make it to training because he got stuck on his farm – he got snowed in.
“Then, we played at Eden Park in front of 13,500 people against Italy. Just bizarre!
“We wanted to be the first team to win the World Cup, that was our goal. Win six games, win the World Cup. We did that and we were back at work on the building site on Monday morning.”
The game has evolved an extraordinary amount since that time, Fitzpatrick was involved in two further World Cups following ’87 and witnessed the growth first-hand.
“Every World Cup got better and better and now as a fan, I just absolutely love it.”
The spectacle will reach new heights in round three with decisive matchups between Ireland and South Africa in Pool B and Australia and Wales in Pool C.
New Zealand fans like Fitzpatrick will have to wait until round four as the All Blacks have a bye before taking on Italy in Lyon.
Essential to the All Blacks’ success in that match will be the forward pack. The Kiwi forwards have struggled over this World Cup cycle as a whole and while there has been huge growth over the past 12 months, New Zealand still find themselves behind the eight ball.
“Until Twickenham three weeks ago, we were pretty good. We were pretty happy with ourselves.
“The big thing that we didn’t have, and (Ireland) exposed us, is a physical presence. I think Covid hurt us, we were playing amongst ourselves and the physical presence went out of our game.
“Ireland came down and gave us a good kicking and we had to change.”
The return of key players like Shannon Frizell and Brodie Retallick will boost the forward pack, but every player will need to be fit and firing in order to challenge the bigger packs of the competition.
Discipline will also need to be addressed, as any time spent with fewer players on the park will prove costly.
“Now we need our big boys. France are a big team, Ireland are a big team, South Africa are massive.
‘The physical presence of the game now is big, for 80 minutes.”
Those three teams along with his native New Zealand are the likely World Cup winners in Fitzpatrick’s eyes.
“So, it will either be South Africa, France, New Zealand or Ireland.
“I think France will play South Africa, and I think they can beat South Africa because they are big enough to compete.
“We [New Zealand] will play Ireland and the All Blacks will beat Ireland. Purely because I think we have learnt enough, and as long as we have our big guys available, I don’t think Ireland will want to play the All Blacks.”
Ireland under Andy farrell and his coaching team have become a very accomplished side.
Their full strength 23 is a match for any team and more than a match for most, this wks game against the Boks is massive, but I don't think Ireland will be bothered about who they face going fwd.
The ABs don't carry the same aura that they used to in my opinion, I can't see them winning this WC.
The Irish are dependent on important positions played by imported professionals from other countries. Yes, the 23 is very good but not good enough and will crack at some point over the next five games. The Allblacks are not in a good place but should be good enough to beat Ireland but unlikely to win three in a row against tier one. South Africa have weak spots but remain favourites.
I'm puzzled why so many are writing off Ireland, not just in NZ, but also in Europe. To be honest I think the AB's would fare better against SA. Despite the dead rubber anomaly in Twickenham, SA haven't fared that well against the AB's in recent years. Ireland on the other hand have had our number. Better coach, excellent rush defense and fantastic loosies to pilfer ball from our stranded players. SA's game we are pretty familiar with, but the Irish are far less familiar and are fantastic at exploiting our weaknesses. When watching recent games between Ireland and NZ, I couldn't help but think they know our game better than we do. I doubt we've learnt enough from recent outings, despite 'learnings' being Foz's favourite word, it's something we struggle to do.
We may do if you were on the park, Sean.