Kirwan: 'All Blacks the Brazil of rugby'
Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:03
Israel Dagg celebrates the winning try in Soweto. (c) Gallo
Legendary former All Blacks wing John Kirwan believes that victory in this year's Tri-Nations has helped New Zealand gain a crucial mental edge leading up to next year's Rugby World Cup.
By winning Saturday's tight encounter in Soweto (by 29-22), Kirwan believes that the All Blacks have dealt the Springboks a major "psychological blow" before the 2011 World Cup, which - of course - takes place in New Zealand.
The capacity crowd of nearly 90,000 at Soccer City was no surprise to Kirwan, who views New Zealand as the juggernauts of rugby union.
"We [New Zealand] are the Brazil of rugby," Kirwan told rugy365.com.
"In soccer, people turn up to watch Brazil because they love to play the game, and New Zealand is the same.
"I think that if you have a stadium for 90-odd thousand people and you want to fill it… invite the All Blacks."
Kirwan believes that winning the World Cup next year on home soil is very important for the All Blacks, who will desperately want to shake off their chokers tag.
"It's really important that the All Blacks win a World Cup," he said. "We've won one in '87, but we need to win another one just to get the monkey off our back.
"I also just think it would be nice, because we deserve to win it... being consistently number one in the world."
The theory that the All Blacks always peak between tournaments is one that Richie McCaw and his team will want to finally put to bed once and for all.
However, Kirwan is not fazed about the notion of the Men in Black peaking too soon.
The 63-Test veteran declared: "We don't really care!
"Our philosophy is that we need to be the world's best rugby team, and we continue to do that."
By Timmy Hancox
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