Rugby World Cup 2023: The strategy inside the bravest World Cup performance in All Blacks history

OPINION:

Gregor Paul in Paris

In beating Ireland in the manner in which they did, the All Blacks have killed the lingering doubt about whether they have the stomach for the big occasions, and have put down an undeniably strong piece of evidence that they have all the qualities they need to win the World Cup.

As much as the All Blacks slayed Ireland in Paris, so did they exorcise the demons of indecision and a propensity to mentally implode which have been kicking about for far too long.

People have always wanted to believe in these All Blacks, but they haven’t had enough reason to.

They became a team impossible to trust, being as they were a befuddling mix of brilliance one week and rank amateurism the next.

But when it mattered most – when the best team in the world came at them, bludgeon in one hand, rapier in the other, swinging with intent and a commitment to see blood – these All Blacks stayed in the fight with what was perhaps the bravest World Cup performance they have ever delivered.

They have announced their arrival as a team, and in the face of the deep public scepticism that has plagued them for much of the last year or so, Ian Foster’s All Blacks have shown they have the fundamental qualities to leave France as champions.

Brothers Jordie Barrett and Beauden Barrett after winning the quarter-final. Photo / Photosport

Now it is not impossible to believe in them as their bravery was seen in all different shapes and forms in Paris.

There was the performance of Sam Cane, whose 76 minutes of thunderous defence, relentless ball carrying and astute work at the breakdown, delivered Ireland flanker Peter O’Mahony a deep sense of regret for calling the All Blacks captain a “s*** Richie McCaw” last year.

It did, of course, do much more than that - it redefined the standing of the All Blacks captain in the mind of a public who haven’t always been able to see what Cane brings to the test arena and who have been on some never-ending hunt to find faults in his game.

Now, surely everyone can see that Cane is blessed with a depth of resilience and a warrior’s mentality and that he is the talismanic, iconic leader teams need if they are serious about winning the World Cup.

Of all the players who suffered during the Ireland series last year, none endured more difficulty than Cane.

Mostly it seemed that while New Zealanders thought O’Mahony lacked class, they didn’t think he lacked insight, and Cane was battling a building reputation as much as he was a building number of shortcomings within the team.

All Blacks perform the haka at the World Cup. Photo / Getty Images

The captain couldn’t find a way to impose himself in any of the three tests and he had no means to get on the bridge the way the indefatigable McCaw used to, and single-handedly turn things around with an individual performance that inspired those around him to throw their souls into the contest.

There were widespread calls to drop Cane in July last year, and when he wasn’t chucked to the wolves, there wasn’t so much anger from the baying masses that they weren’t getting a head on the stick, but more a profound disappointment that the All Blacks continued to believe they had something to salvage with him.

So for Cane, to have been in such a dark and miserable place only 15 months, to then deliver the single greatest performance of his career in the most critical game of the past four years, drives an entirely new narrative about how good he is.

It’s laughable now for anyone to not believe in his right to lead the team, as in Paris, he looked every inch the sort of captain the All Blacks need to win the World Cup.

So too did it appear as if the All Blacks now have the sort of defensive system and ability to execute it that teams need to win World Cups.

The cliché is that defence wins titles and just as Cane’s performance was undeniably brave, so too was the All Blacks’ collective tackling effort.

They made 100 tackles in the last 20 minutes and 276 in total – and while they weren’t by any means perfect against Ireland, the All Blacks were, even with 14 men, good enough to stop the team with the most fluid attack in the world game from scoring a try in the final 15 minutes.

The third key box the All Blacks have ticked is in the bravery of their gameplan and selections.

Head coach Ian Foster had the confidence to back the scrummaging power of his four young props, selecting both Tamaiti Williams and Fletcher Newell, despite their lack of experience, to produce the scrummaging power the team needed.

It was a brave call, but it paid rich reward because the two youngsters held their own at set-piece and then played their respective trump card which was their greater mobility.

It’s debatable whether the All Blacks would have held on to win had they picked Nepo Laulala and Ofa Tuungafasi on the bench – the two elder statesmen not being in the same class as Newell and Williams when it comes to ball running and initiating scrambling defence.

The holy triumvirate of superhero captain, reliably aggressive and effective defence and a unity between selection and gameplan are all there, and a country that couldn’t imagine they would ever have any reason to believe, may have to reconsider.