Looking at the Cup survivors

Conrad Smith of the All Blacks. Photo / Getty Images

Nine All Blacks who started the last World Cup final are looking to triumph again overseas.

Seven of the pack return after running on to Eden Park in 2011 - only Brad Thorn is missing - while Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith are the backline survivors.

What does that mean? There are a range of views.

There's the one which shouts about the value of experience and rugby wisdom and the massive effort from that group of nine to push on for another crack at the 2015 crown.

It combines with the view that the All Black selectors are reluctant to change their proven All Blacks for exciting talent with huge potential but wavering form graphs.

Then there's the assessment that a few of the dependable pros have pushed on and will push their way into the top XV during this tournament.

We know that Dane Coles has made that move already. He's played 30 tests, got his scrummaging and lineout throwing in order and exploded past the slowing Keven Mealamu into the top side.

Fellow front-rowers Tony Woodcock and Owen Franks all handle the technical dark arts with aplomb. After 187 tests between them, they've got a handle on any ploys likely to come their way. They'll know how certain referees police their matches and what methods they need to counter any renegade opponents.

They will be men who start tests and deal with all that initial tension before the younger muscle explodes out of the subs bunker. However, Charlie Faumuina and Wyatt Crockett have the chance to show they can also do the business from the beginning while also offering their stronger handling, passing and defensive skills.

Sam Whitelock will be there to lock the scrum with the remarkable Brodie Retallick and it will be a huge surprise if the senior loose-forward trio is disturbed by anything other than injury. We have been waiting for Kieran Read to regain much of last year's sting. Perhaps those head knocks have had more effect than we understood but even Read's less than full noise efforts are better than those from the understudies.

Behind the pack, Nonu and Smith are still a strong combination. The pair's experience is a linchpin in the backline and their blend of the hammer and sickle is a dangerous combination for any opponent.

So while there is a strong argument that none of the nine who started the last World Cup final, except Whitelock and Nonu, have improved their form, they have kept such strong standards it has been awkward for others to muscle past them.

Coles has proved to be the exception and maybe Faumuina or Malakai Fekitoa might nudge past the incumbents.

Otherwise I'd expect a fit eight survivors from the 2011 tournament to be frontline again for the All Blacks' crack at this year's event.