Rugby: Passionate Kiwi fans expect more from their teams, says Justin Marshall

All Blacks rugby fans during the British & Irish Lions series. Photo/Photosport

Kiwi rugby fans are victims of their team's success, claims former All Black, now SKY TV commentator Justin Marshall.

This week, former Wellington midfielder Shaun Treeby, who switched to the Stormers this season, claimed South African fans were far more passionate than their NZ counterparts.

"Fans back home are passionate about and love rugby, but it is definitely a step up over here," Treeby told the official Stormers magazine.

"Even a couple of hours after the game, once we've changed, there is always a big crowd around for pictures and autographs. In New Zealand, we certainly don't have that.

"There's more passion for rugby here in Cape Town - South Africans are definitely more rugby crazy."

But Marshall, an 81-cap halfback with the national side, told Radio Sport Breakfast that New Zealand fans have different expectations to most around the world and behave accordingly.

"Especially when it comes to the All Blacks, our winning ratio and expectations are incredibly high for our supporters," he said.

"Whenever we, as supporters, go to watch an All Black game ... Kiwis aren't there early and anxious about the result. It's more about how well the All Blacks are going to go.

"I guess, a lot of the other nations, when they go along, they're trying to get a feel for the match and whether or not their team can win and beat the All Blacks.

"I guess the Lions tour was the one enigma, where the result wasn't a foregone conclusion - the All Blacks were favourites, but we, as supporters, were a little unsure.

"Because of that, Kiwis started turning up a little earlier and more involved in pre-game. Traditionally, we get there 30 minutes before kick-off, sit down and then it's 'right, how many points will we score, what will we win by and what sort of performance will we put on?'

"You don't get that pre-game banter about who's going to win."

Marshall admitted that probably won't change heading into the Bledisloe Cup series against Australia, given the NZ dominance over their trans-Tasman rivals during the Super Rugby competition.

"There's a lot of banter coming out of Australia about how Super Rugby form is not going to have any reflection on how the Wallabies play in this Rugby Championship," he said.

"I'm thinking bullcrap, to be honest. When you think of how they performed in their series, while the All Blacks played the Lions, it wasn't great ... they really struggled.

"They didn't show anything that put you in fear that they would be a different beast to what they showed in Super Rugby.

"At the end of the day, apart from Will Genia and Kurtley Beale coming into the mix, they're predominantly picking the same the Super Rugby players that didn't cope against New Zealand teams."

Their early exit from the Super Rugby playoffs meant the Australian players have had more time to prepare for the international schedule and have certainly left no stone unturned in their quest for a winning edge of the All Blacks.

"They're going to be incredibly well prepared, more so that the All Blacks," said Marshall. "Michael Cheika has had access to all of his players, whereas the All Blacks have only sporadically got them and only just now, the Crusaders and Hurricanes players into the mix.

"For me, the fascination is how they can galvanise the individual talent that they've got and formulate a game plan where they can be competitive.

"I think we all agree, as tough as it is to say, we want Australia to really push us, we want them to be strong and we want it to be entertaining, because we enjoy that rivalry between our nearest neighbour and us."