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'Library of learnings' fuelling All Blacks World Cup campaign
By Ned Lester
As the adage goes, a loss is a lesson and coming off one of their most challenging World Cup cycles, the All Blacks have learnt a fair bit in their hunt to reclaim the Webb Ellis Cup and be crowned world champions once more.
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One man who has experienced both the joy and heartache a World Cup can provide is Beauden Barrett, the 115-test All Black having played in both the 2015 final and 2019 semi-final.
The four years in between campaigns leave a lot of time for emotions to stew, but also for the international landscape to evolve and render some feelings redundant.
Key to success at World Cups though is experience and Barrett certainly has plenty of that heading into his third tournament.
“Each one has been so different,” Barrett told Stuff. “But the level of optimism is as high as it’s ever been.
“I know so much is going to happen between now and the end of the World Cup. I can remember the disappointment and that feeling of deep dissatisfaction after the last one. There were definitely happy memories the first time around in ‘15.”
History never repeats itself and the All Blacks’ buildup to the tenth instalment of the competition is unlike any that have come before it.
Inevitably, coming off the back of a loss last time out is fuelling some of the fire in the All Blacks camp.
“Absolutely,” Barrett agreed. “That was a huge learning for us around how we didn’t get to the level we needed to and why. Of course, it’s banked. And it’s added to the library of learnings that we have sitting there.”
Barrett’s sentiment echoes that of his teammate Ardie Savea, who said the memory of 2019 was “stored” and “good” to have in the bank.
One learning from 2019 was that a loss in the pool stages doesn’t eradicate your chances of lifting the Webb Ellis, given reigning champions South Africa fell to New Zealand before making a clean sweep of the knockout stages.
A clash with hosts France to open this tournament will pose a similar challenge for the Kiwis and a date with knockout football is far from guaranteed.
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“The true test for this group will come ultimately in those defining moments down the stretch.
“We’ve got to earn the right to be in those quarters, and then the same every week after that.
“But the true test is being able to stand up in those big moments. Those are the things we’re talking about now. There’s no bigger one than France in round one, but the Boks stand in front of us before that, and we can’t overlook that game either.”
