League: Great expectations seem to subdue Kiwis fire

Australia always seem to win when the Kiwis are favoured to do well, such as the Four Nations test at Eden Park in 2010. Photo / Getty Images

The Kiwis' greatest opponent in this World Cup could be the weight of expectation.

It's been an unfamiliar foe over the years for the New Zealand league side and not something they have proved adept at dealing with.

Traditionally they have been most comfortable in the role of outsiders; brave mavericks looking to upset the established top guns.

That isn't the case this time. They have a formidable pack - on paper, better than the Kangaroos - while Shaun Johnson and Kieran Foran could become the best Kiwis halves combination in decades.

The heavier English grounds should suit their confrontational style and the presence of Sonny Bill Williams has added vital X-factor.

But can they handle the expectation? It's been a heavy burden for most New Zealand sports teams; even the All Blacks, for all their statistical consistency, spent almost two decades freezing when it mattered most every four years.

Historically, the Kiwis have struggled when not underdogs and their good-only-in-parts performance in their World Cup opener against Samoa last weekend and yesterday's match against France were reminiscent of that - though they are traditionally slow starters. Against Samoa, they produced a slick performance in the first half before allowing them back into the match.

Perhaps the best example of the effect of expectations on our national league side came in 1988, when one of the best Kiwi sides ever assembled succumbed to an inexperienced Australian team 25-12 in an ill-disciplined World Cup final at Eden Park. They weren't helped by poor preparation but the performance and manner of the defeat was hard to fathom.

It was a similar story in 1986. After a classic series in 1985, where the Kiwis were arguably the better team across three tests, they were whitewashed in games in Auckland, Sydney and Brisbane. In 1991, when Gary Freeman's team upset the Australians 24-8 in Melbourne, they lost the next two games by a combined margin of 84 points to 12.

Or what about the 2006 Anzac test? After winning the Tri-Nations in stunning fashion a year earlier, and bolstered by the return of Benji Marshall and Williams, the Kiwis were thumped 50-12 at a sold-out Suncorp Stadium.

Expectation was also heavy for the opening game of the last World Cup in Sydney, and the first game of the 2010 Four Nations at Eden Park, but on both occasions the Kiwis were strangely subdued.

In contrast, there have been numerous occasions where the Kiwis have come into a match almost written off, only to conjure up remarkable performances and memorable victories. Think of the Lang Park triumphs in 1983 and 1987, or the Anzac test wins at Albany in 1997 and 1998, when Frank Endacott's teams had been savaged by injuries and suspension.

Brian McClennan pulled off similar heroics in 2005 with a team of rank outsiders and both the 2008 World Cup win and the 2010 Four Nations victory were highly unexpected at the time.