KEY POINTS:
History counts for nothing when it comes to the World Cup, said former All Black Glen Osborne.
"What matters is when you turn up. History has shown that the best teams going into the cup haven't won it," Osborne said.
He said winning the Tri-Nations and the Bledisloe Cup means nothing.
"Australia haven't been strong before-hand and they've won it twice," he said.
Osborne said the All Blacks will clean-up in the pool play but who they meet in the finals is anybody's guess.
He said France will be hard to beat at home.
"Even though sometimes they don't have their best team on, I don't know what they do whether they drink 20 cups of coffee before hand, they seem to play a lot harder when they're playing in front of their own people at home," Osborne said.
But he wouldn't be drawn on who the All Blacks will meet in the final.
"I'm not picking any team at the moment. I'm definitely hoping we will be," he said.
He said it will be the best team on the day that wins but not necessary the best 15.
Osborne said injuries are bound to happen but selections are based around the whole squad and depth is important.
"All the history, all the games mean nothing in the World Cup," Osborne said.
Final prediction
New Zealand versus "it could be any body's guess".
New Zealand by "so long as we win I don't care what the score is".
Glen Osborne's All Black career
(Source: www.allblacks.com)
Full Name: Glen Matthew Osborne
Born: August 27, 1971
Position: Full back and wing
All Black Debut: April 22, 1995
Matches: 29
All Black points: 85, 17 tries
YOUR PREDICTIONS
It's only weeks away from the Rugby World Cup and we want to hear your predictions of who will win. Who do you think will be in the final and what do you think the score will be?
We'll run your predictions online and you could be the winner by picking the right score.
The winner gets to the right to call themselves the Rugby Brain of New Zealand... and our sports team at nzherald.co.nz will also rustle up a prize for the most accurate prediction.
