Rugby World Cup: How the All Blacks ready for a minnow

A difficult few weeks lie ahead for the All Blacks as they deal with a fixture list that isn't going to take them to the edge of their physical limits.

They have been here before, in 2007, and stuffed up. They got caught up in the carnival atmosphere of playing the hapless Portugal and equally poor Romania and weren't helped by the poor performances they encountered from Scotland and Italy.

It felt like the All Blacks were filling in time while they waited for the quarterfinals. They had tight forwards coming off the bench to play in the back-row and they didn't go out of their way to deny the situation was far from ideal.

It's a mistake Steve Hansen - assistant coach eight years ago - has learned from. And it's something the players are equally determined to avoid.

They are determined to keep themselves in a 'playoff' frame of mind - to prepare for Georgia and Tonga as if they are deadly Tier One nations.

They steadfastly refused to be anything other than hugely respectful of Namibia. There was no talk of it being a romp and any suggestion it would be was quickly quashed.

The All Blacks simply can't afford to be anything than clinical and ruthless. They could get away with being a bit sloppy and still win games, but that mindset will hardly serve them well when they reach the serious business of the knockout rounds.

Essentially then the All Blacks have removed the opposition from their thinking. The Namibian test and the next two games are all about them setting the standards of performance they want to achieve.

They won't be happy just winning - they want to tidy up their cohesion, find the slickness and pace that they feel they will need to have deeper in the tournament and generally build their confidence in their game structures and ability to put them all together.

"Each team has to prepare in its own way," says Hansen ahead of the Namibia test. "One of the things we pride ourselves on is trying to improve our performance from the previous one.

"We put a line in the sand as far as the World Cup goes against Argentina and the group going out on Thursday have to change that line to a higher performance level.

"Rugby is a funny thing. If you don't play properly you get a hiding."

The All Blacks will draw another line later today after they leave Olympic Park and challenge themselves to go up another gear again when they meet Georgia.

There just won't be any let up in their mentality. They won't begin to entertain the notion that there are two distinct phases to this World Cup: the playoffs and then the knockout rounds.

They have only ever talked bout the next game. Any questions that come about the future - about opponents who lie down the track are dismissed. It's one game at a time with a belief that anything will be detrimental to their progression in terms of building their performance if not gaining outcomes.

It's an entirely different approach where the world knew the All Blacks would qualify at a canter and the players did, too. Which is why Hansen said several times before his team left for England that the problem in 2007 was the All Blacks - red hot favourites - turned up in France expecting to win. They weren't hungry enough for it - didn't realise threat there would be 19 other teams there all of whom had the same desire.

Georgia and Tonga may well take a pounding but the first inkling they will get of that is when it is actually happening.

- Gregor Paul in London