Physicality will go a long way in deciding the Rugby World Cup, says a man who was part of the first team to ever win it.
Sean Fitzpatrick was recently named by Sir Graham Henry and Sir Wayne Smith in the legendary coaches’ ultimate All Blacks XV. The hooker was named ahead of greats like Kevin Mealamu and Dane Coles for his role in changing the position throughout his career.
Casting his expert eye over the current state of his former team, Fitzpatrick labelled physicality the key issue for New Zealand.
That wasn’t the case back in 1987 when Fitzpatrick and co were on the quest to become rugby’s first-ever world champions. That famous campaign did however have different, more unusual adversity to overcome compared to the modern game.
“In 1987, we didn’t know what we were doing,” Fitzpatrick told the Rugby World Cup 2023 Official podcast. “We had our final trial on the Saturday before the opening game, and the team was named that night. We assembled on the Wednesday, and our coach didn’t make it to training because he got stuck on his farm – he got snowed in.
“Then, we played at Eden Park in front of 13,500 people against Italy. Just bizarre!
“We wanted to be the first team to win the World Cup, that was our goal. Win six games, win the World Cup. We did that and we were back at work on the building site on Monday morning.”
The game has evolved an extraordinary amount since that time, Fitzpatrick was involved in two further World Cups following ’87 and witnessed the growth first-hand.
“Every World Cup got better and better and now as a fan, I just absolutely love it.”
The spectacle will reach new heights in round three with decisive matchups between Ireland and South Africa in Pool B and Australia and Wales in Pool C.
New Zealand fans like Fitzpatrick will have to wait until round four as the All Blacks have a bye before taking on Italy in Lyon.
Essential to the All Blacks’ success in that match will be the forward pack. The Kiwi forwards have struggled over this World Cup cycle as a whole and while there has been huge growth over the past 12 months, New Zealand still find themselves behind the eight ball.
“Until Twickenham three weeks ago, we were pretty good. We were pretty happy with ourselves.
“The big thing that we didn’t have, and (Ireland) exposed us, is a physical presence. I think Covid hurt us, we were playing amongst ourselves and the physical presence went out of our game.
“Ireland came down and gave us a good kicking and we had to change.”
The return of key players like Shannon Frizell and Brodie Retallick will boost the forward pack, but every player will need to be fit and firing in order to challenge the bigger packs of the competition.
Discipline will also need to be addressed, as any time spent with fewer players on the park will prove costly.
“Now we need our big boys. France are a big team, Ireland are a big team, South Africa are massive.
‘The physical presence of the game now is big, for 80 minutes.”
Those three teams along with his native New Zealand are the likely World Cup winners in Fitzpatrick’s eyes.
“So, it will either be South Africa, France, New Zealand or Ireland.
“I think France will play South Africa, and I think they can beat South Africa because they are big enough to compete.
“We [New Zealand] will play Ireland and the All Blacks will beat Ireland. Purely because I think we have learnt enough, and as long as we have our big guys available, I don’t think Ireland will want to play the All Blacks.”
