Huge hopes of winning Rugby World Cup again

Poll shows that 70% of respondents expect the All Blacks to win the World Cup. Photo / Getty Images

Will we never learn? More than 70 per cent of New Zealanders think the All Blacks will win the Rugby World Cup in October, despite 24 years of failure on the game's biggest stage.

A Herald-DigiPoll survey has revealed that just 16.5 per cent of respondents believed the All Blacks would not win the Webb Ellis Cup, while 2.9 per cent did not care and 10.2 per cent did not know.

Men were more optimistic, with 71.2 per cent believing the All Blacks would win, compared with the overall figure of 70.4.

Among those is former All Black great Sir Colin Meads, who thinks New Zealand should finally win the trophy that has eluded them since 1987.

He said that despite NZ's dubious Rugby World Cup history, the expectations on the players at home should lift them to snare the prize.

"On present form the All Blacks are the form team in the world at the moment but, you know, the World Cup is another year away," he said.

"Still, we are looking very, very good and the only thing I can see interfering with us winning it will be injuries.

'If we were to lose Richie McCaw and Dan Carter [pictured below], we would be in trouble."

Former All Black Andy Haden said if the nucleus of the squad that went through the United Kingdom unbeaten remains, they could win the cup.

"But I'm not predicting they will win if that combination is not available," he said.

"If either McCaw or Carter are out the chances will be diminished, markedly."

Haden agreed with the large number of respondents who pinpointed Australia as the greatest threat to All Black superiority - 45.5 per cent picked the Wallabies as the team to beat.

South Africa were the next most-feared team, accruing 24.7 per cent of the votes, while England (8 per cent) and France (5.5) were the only others to attract any support.

"Australia are fast, confident and ambitious," said Haden.

"[Coach Robbie] Deans has a very lively combination available to him and as long as they can get a share of good ball - and not even half of it; if they can get 40 per cent of the ball - and hold up at scrum time they will be very hard to beat."

Sir Colin expected South Africa to improve, saying they wouldn't be as bad as they were last year.

He could not work out the reasons for the Springboks' 2010 malaise but believed the All Blacks' 32-12 win against them in the July 10 Tri-Nations match in Auckland probably helped.

"That was the best match the All Blacks have played in the last 20 or even 30 years.

"We really thrashed them in every position and it gave our fellas the confidence to go through the year," Sir Colin said.

"I think it sort of demoralised them, but South Africa will come back, you just wait and see."

Meanwhile, the question of who should wear the No 12 jersey for the All Blacks proved too close to call.

Sonny Bill Williams headed off Ma'a Nonu by a slender margin. Nearly 40 per cent believed Williams was the better choice, while Nonu grabbed 38.1 per cent of the vote.

Williams made his debut for the All Blacks on their recent Grand Slam tour of the UK and was named to start in the final test against Wales, indicating he had moved ahead of Nonu in the coaches' estimations.

Williams had a quiet match at the Millennium Stadium and was replaced in the second half by Nonu, who went on to make a big "don't-forget-about-me" statement with a strong showing.

Perhaps surprisingly, men seemed more vulnerable to the charms of Williams, with 42.7 per cent believing he was the best option at second five-eighths, as opposed to 37.1 per cent of women. The male-female split for Nonu was less pronounced, with 40.3 per cent of men and 36.1 per cent of women believing he was the best No 12 in the country.

Sir Colin said Nonu's form was good but Williams was irresistible. Both were great assets.