KEY POINTS:
PARIS: The most experienced All Blacks team in test history will run on to Stade de France to face France tomorrow morning.
Never in 415 tests has a New Zealand team fielded a starting XV with more caps than the 532 that captain Richie McCaw's men tally.
While the All Blacks have been building depth through player rotation over the past three years, coach Graham Henry has also persisted with a core of players he inherited in 2004, the bulk of whom start together in his "best team" on Sunday.
McCaw said the team's depth of experience had become a foundation stone of their success.
"It definitely gives you confidence.
"Alot of the guys have played a lot of games now," he said.
"When you look back to the World Cup in 2003, 14-odd guys from then are still in the squad, which is huge.
"Three years on, experience means hopefully we're better rugby players because of that.
"I'm sure there was the toss of a coin for a few positions in the team - it's amazing we've got that luxury and that gives you confidence as well."
The record easily shades the previous mark of 509 test caps, held by the 1997 All Blacks team who downed Australia 36-24 at Dunedin to clean-sweep the Tri-Nations.
That team, near the peak of their powers, boasted an enormously experienced tight five, headed by hooker and captain Sean Fitzpatrick.
This weekend's side has the experience evenly spread, with an average of 33 tests a man in the backs and 38 in the forwards.
The most experienced is lock Chris Jack with 56 caps. Winger Sitiveni Sivivatu has the least with 10.
The total could have been even more had second five-eighths Aaron Mauger and winger Rico Gear had not lost out in tight selection duels with Ma'a Nonu and Sivivatu respectively.
Two other veteran players who have not made the 22 are forwards Anton Oliver (51 tests) and Reuben Thorne (44).
Including this weekend, the All Blacks will play 13 tests before the World Cup quarter-finals, a time when experience will be a highly valued commodity.
The All Blacks have some way to go before they can match the 696 test caps - believed to be a world record - that the starting Lions team fielded for the first test of last year's tour at Christchurch. That Lions reserve bench had 348 caps.
France are no beginners this weekend with 440 caps in their starting lineup, despite losing 110-test captain Fabien Pelous to injury.
French legend Philippe Sella has questioned the mental toughness of his country's leading players and whether they are fit enough to match the All Blacks' non-stop style.
Sella, one of the greatest centres the game has seen, worried that the All Blacks backs were in a different league to France's, mainly because they were fitter and faster.
He said it was apparent the French players tired when confronted with opponents who were prepared to be innovative from anywhere on the field and do not stop for 80 minutes - as New Zealand did in the 47-3 humiliation of the hosts at Lyon last weekend.
"The All Blacks attacked from their own 20m line, from deep, from all over, and in the end we ran out of oxygen," Sella said.
"Our team is not fit enough."
Sella was surprised with the lack of fight from France at Lyon and suggested they over-estimated their own ability.
- NZPA
