KEY POINTS:
By switching the emphasis from physical to mental preparation this week, the All Blacks have highlighted how important experience will be in getting them through to the last four.
History shows that the last two World Cup winners needed their Robert the Bruce moment to succeed - just as Bruce learned the value of perseverance by watching the plucky spider eventually construct his web, so too England and Australia learned from their failures at the preceding World Cup. Almost half the Australian squad of 1999 had been involved in the doomed 1995 campaign with others such as Tim Horan, John Eales and Phil Kearns also having played in the successful 1991 campaign.
England, too, had an army of second-timers in their 2003 squad. Martin Johnson, Richard Hill, Neil Back, Jason Leonard, Will Greenwood, Jonny Wilkinson, critically important players for England, had all felt the hurt of being booted out of the 1999 quarter-final by Jannie de Beer's five drop-goals.
In the years since the respective victories of England and Australia, the squad members all cited the importance of World Cup experience as a factor in their eventual success. Were it not for the fact players in England's 2003 World Cup squad had knowledge of how the tension would increase, how the games would tighten and how thoroughly they would need to prepare, it's doubtful they would have won.
The value of previous World Cup experience was deemed so important by former All Black coach John Mitchell, he drew up a four-page document immediately after the last tournament. The thrust of his argument was that the 2003 All Black squad was heavily populated by young, inexperienced players which was always going to make life challenging in the knock-out rounds.
But said Mitchell, the potential for 2007 was enormous as if the bulk of the players could be retained, they would have a knowledge base to be balanced against their athleticism.
It turns out Mitchell was right, except it wasn't him charged with keeping the squad together, it was Graham Henry, who has selected 15 of the players who went to Australia, with Anton Oliver having been at the 1999 tournament.
Captain Richie McCaw is confident that the side is now packed with men who have the confidence to lead and that those who have been in this position before will make their experience tell on Saturday.
"In 2003 a lot of the guys were pretty new to the team," said McCaw.
"They didn't offer as much in terms of leadership.
"It was the captain and coach and maybe the rest of us didn't help as we should have. Whereas now we have heaps of guys who have been here a long time and will put up their hands and be prepared to say what they think and how they can make things better.
"We have been working on the leadership of this team for a long time. This is the time we have to make it work, you can't just sit back."
France can match the All Blacks' total of 16 players with previous World Cup experience, while Australia have 14, England 13, South Africa 12 and Fiji and Scotland both have nine. The team with the most World Cup experience is Argentina, with 18 players from 2003, 11 of whom were also at the 1999 tournament.
But while the Pumas have more experience, they trail the All Blacks in their exposure to intense football in between times.
Since the last World Cup the bulk of the starting XV on Sunday have been involved in most of the major tests. And according to Mils Muliaina, all that time in the trenches has instilled calm and confidence.
"Maybe three or four years ago with 15 minutes to go we would have panicked if we were behind," he said. "But 15 minutes is a long time and now, if we are behind by 10 points, we just say, 'What can we do better here? How are we going to attack?' As a team we look at our next job and go ahead and do it."
