The All Blacks cannot set foot on English soil these days without two boring commentaries being directed their way. The first suggests their aura of invincibility has slipped towards vanishing point. The second criticises the haka as providing the All Blacks with an unfair advantage or having the traits of a pantomime performance. This week has been no different. So much so that the build-up to the test at Twickenham has become an exercise in tedium.
English writers, eager to bolster their team, theorise that the All Blacks no longer intimidate. In part, that might be expected given end-of-year visits to England are now virtually an annual event. If familiarity has not bred contempt, it has fostered a greater awareness of the keys to the All Blacks' success. That, in itself, pulls them down a peg or two. But counter-balancing that is the All Blacks' incredible record since winning the 2011 World Cup. That can only have advanced their standing.
In a similar vein, the haka has been labelled "scarcely more than a circus display". Such criticism pays no heed to the All Blacks' serious treatment of it since the days of Wayne Shelford's captaincy. That has increased both its authenticity and its appeal to spectators.
Notably, however, one boring criticism has not been trotted out again. This is the errant view that the All Blacks' strength is based on their pilfering of Pacific island players. Could names such as Manu Tuilagi, Semesa Rokoduguni, and Billy Vunipola playing for England have something to do with that omission?
