KEY POINTS:
People who don't like rugby have enough of a burden to bear without being included in the constituency of those on whose behalf the All Blacks will be fighting in France this month and next. So let us not say that the squad, which flew out on Thursday morning, carries with it the hopes of a nation - just of the nation's rugby fans. That excludes at least a dozen New Zealanders.
The 2007 All Blacks are certainly the team most likely to break the hoodoo that has dogged us since the inaugural cup in 1987 and earned New Zealand the reputation of being always the best rugby side in the world in between World Cups.
These All Blacks are at their peak and no one can deny that they are the best team in the world but, as the first Bledisloe Cup test showed, they are not invincible. At the sharp end of the tournament, every game will be a 50/50 proposition. The team goes with the best wishes of all - well, almost all - of us. Kia ora. Kia kaha. Kia manawanui.
