Rugby World Cup 2015: All Blacks look to break disastrous start theme

There's been a common theme in the previous two sporting World Cup finals between New Zealand and Australia this year - disastrous starts.

The cricketers had lost their captain before the first over and wickets kept tumbling from there, while the netballers wrapped the game, put a bow on it and handed it to the Australians as a first quarter gift.

Major finals, in any sport, are not usually the place where epic comebacks are launched: give too many inches in the early exchanges and there's impossible miles to retrieve later in the piece.

None of this is breaking news to the All Blacks. How they start test matches has been a subject that has occupied much of their thinking in the last 12 months.

At the end of last year when they reviewed their season they felt there were too many times when the team sat back waiting for the opposition to come at them.

They have a mindset that the pressure is going to be on them at some stage in the game and that they need to deal with it - but the review found that there were times when they were, perhaps unconsciously, not being proactive.

There were a few obvious examples of that: the second test against England in Dunedin; the 12-all draw with Australia in Sydney and the loss to South Africa at Ellis Park.

The pattern was clear in each - the All Blacks were passive in the opening 20 minutes, almost playing with a mindset to absorb what came at them and ride it out.

Conversely, when they have been at their best and destroyed opponents as they have on a few occasions, it has been when they have blitzed the opening 20 minutes.

England were ripped apart in Hamilton last year - the damage being done in the first half hour. Australia came to Eden Park this year and to a lesser extent last year, too and were crushed by the first half rampage they faced. And probably the best example of all was against France in the quarterfinal. The All Blacks were direct and ruthless from the kickoff, took ownership of the ball and the game and France were chasing shadows without hope.

Starting well has proven to be a signal the All Blacks are in the right frame of mind to dominate and break teams.

When they have produced their most ruthless, direct and difficult to contain rugby, it has come on the back of them playing with a contained ferocity from the first minute.

When they have a bit of anger about them from the first exchanges it bodes well. Some teams start with a hiss and a roar and quickly lose momentum - not the All Blacks. When they take ownership early, they don't give it back.

Head coach Steve Hansen hinted at that following the performance against South Africa.
"It was a really tight tough game where we probably didn't play as well as we could have - the opposition had something to do with that but I think some of our own stuff needs to be looked at and rather than waiting on the game we have got to go and take it like we did against France.

"We will go into this game this weekend really hungry for a performance."

The All Blacks have been at pains to say their goal at this World Cup was to give themselves a chance to win it. Now that they have, the last thing they want to do is to stand back and not fire.

That the cricket and netball teams made that mistake is not really a driving incentive for the All Blacks or anywhere in their thoughts.

But still the nation and their team are perfectly aligned in that neither party wants to see a third final lost to Australia before it has really begun.