Accepting there are “absolutely no guarantees”, inspirational captain Richie McCaw believes the All Blacks will win Sunday night’s Rugby World Cup through sheer will and desire.
McCaw is taking nothing for granted, but hopes painful past failures will drive New Zealand to an emotional victory over France that would finally earn the top-ranked side the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time in 24 years.
France were the last team to beat New Zealand at their Eden Park fortress back in 1994, they also toppled the All Blacks two years ago in Wellington and have a history of surprising like no other.
Les Bleus ambushed the heavily-favoured All Blacks in the 1999 semi-finals plus the 2007 quarters, but McCaw is drawing confidence from his side’s vast experience and class.
“We’ve got men who’ve been in situations, they’ve been around a long time and there’s a lot of desire there,” the champion flanker said on Saturday.
“We’ve got guys that are good enough, but that guarantees nothing. People say who deserves what but, at the end of the day, in a final it’s not about who deserves what.
“It’s about who goes and plays the best rugby on that stage, in this game. That’s what we’ve got to do.
“What’s happened before means absolutely nothing. We’re against a team, the French, who’ll all be thinking exactly the same.
“(But) to go out on the biggest stage and play for your country against a team like the French, that’s an opportunity that you play the game for.”
McCaw said if the French could hurt the All Blacks anywhere, it would be up front, rating Les Bleus’ forward pack, including the loose trio of skipper Thierry Dusautoir, Julien Bonnaire and Imanol Harinordoquy a major threat.
“If we allow them to get front foot ball, they will be dangerous,” McCaw said.
France succumbed 37-17 to New Zealand last month in Auckland and lost a second pool game against Tonga before becoming the first team in history to qualify for the final after dropping two matches.
Dusautoir, though, couldn’t care less how his side arrived at the big dance and was daring to dream on Saturday.
“I have always maintained that France could make the World Cup final. We didn’t choose the easiest path, but we’re here now and have to make the most of it,” he said.
“No matter whatever the sport, all kids dream of being world champions. It can’t get better than being the world champions and to achieve those dreams.
“I’m proud of the team and the path we followed, even after the Tonga game, when the pressure was a bit different.
“We qualified and we showed great strength to get here.”
McCaw, a veteran of 102 Tests and three times the world player of the year, insisted he hadn’t allowed his mind to wander to the moment every New Zealand craves, when he raises the trophy in front of his rugby-mad nation’s “crowd of four million”.
“It’s not about personal stuff,” he said.
“It’s about this team having an opportunity and not wasting it. Going out and performing, playing the best game we’ve ever played in a World Cup final.
“That’s the opportunity that’s there and from our point of view we don’t want to let that slip by.
“A lot of guys have been through one, if not two experiences that haven’t been too flash, and you’d like to think that just hardens the resolve and the desire.
“From my point of view, what happened back in 2003 (when New Zealand lost to Australia in the semi-finals), I never understood what it took to win a World Cup.
“Perhaps (I) didn’t fully understand again in `07, but those experiences you realise that to win it you’ve got to be the best team in that tournament regardless of what’s happened beforehand and you’ve got to produce the good when it counts.
“I think a lot of the guys that have been around a while understand that.
“There’s absolutely no guarantees.”
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