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‘Really confident’: Kirwan tips All Blacks to shine and picks World Cup ‘dark horse’
Legendary All Black Sir John Kirwan is “really confident” that New Zealand will win the upcoming Rugby World Cup after overcoming fierce scrutiny and adversity.
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The All Blacks have hit their stride under Head Coach Ian Foster this year, and are now the bookmakers’ favourites to hoist the Webb Ellis Cup.
But the horror, disappointments, and rugby tragedies of the last 18 months may never be forgotten – and they shouldn’t be, either. It’s what made this All Blacks outfit who they are.
The All Blacks shot out of the blocks in 2022 with a big win over northern hemisphere heavyweights Ireland at Eden Park. But a week is a long time in professional rugby.
Ireland bounced back with their first-ever win over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil, and repeated history in an enthralling series decider in Wellington.
Another loss to South Africa followed, which saw the All Blacks fall to a disastrous five losses from six Tests. All Blacks fans wanted Crusaders coach Scott Robertson on speed dial as they called for a change.
But New Zealand Rugby stuck by their man, 53 weeks ago today, with coach Foster remaining in the All Blacks’ hot seat through to the end of the World Cup.
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Under Foster, and with assistants Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan in support, the All Blacks look like world-beaters this year. They’ve begun to right the wrongs of yesteryear, but it all comes down to this.
The Rugby World Cup is just two weeks away.
“I’m really confident and I’m confident for a reason,” former All Blacks wing Sir John Kirwan told RugbyPass in London.
“Normally we play incredibly well and have no crisis or very little crisis from one World Cup to the next, then we lose the World Cup and we go into crisis.
“This time there was no crisis after the last World Cup, there was one 18 months ago. There are some incredible things that happened. I think adversity has brought this team closer together.
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“World Cups are unpredictable, but I think we’ve got an incredibly good chance to win it along with France, along with South Africa and along with Ireland, and there’ll be a couple of surprise packages in there.
“I’ve been to enough World Cups to know that you can prepare as much as you want but it’s gonna throw you the unexpected.”
The All Blacks are in Pool A along with tournament hosts France, Italy, Uruguay and Namibia. Both New Zealand and France are expected to progress.
But the most interesting pool might actually involve Eddie Jones’ Wallabies. Australian fans have rejoiced in the fact that their team is on the ‘easier side’ of the draw.
Winning has proved hard to come by for Jones’ men, sure, but a potential quarter-final date with Argentina, Japan or possibly England awaits the Wallabies.
But they’ll have to get there, first.
Head-to-Head
Last 5 Meetings
Wins
3
Draws
0
Wins
2
Average Points scored
30
26
First try wins
40%
Home team wins
80%
The Wallabies are in Pool C with Wales, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal. Four of those teams make up the nations ranked eight through 11 on World Rugby’s men’s rankings – Australia, Fiji, Wales and Georgia.
Progressing through to the knockout rounds is both daunting and exciting.
Sitting next to Sir John Kirwan on Thursday, the 1987 Rugby World Cup winner hinted at the possibility of Australia bowing out early as he picked his “dark horse” to make it out of the group.
“Fiji. Fiji, mate. Fiji. Fiji. Fiji,” Kirwan added. “I don’t know if Wales go home (before the knockout stage).
“I think Fiji are really the dark horse just to get out of the pool.”
Kiwis can stream the Rugby World Cup on Sky Sport Now.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments