The All Blacks head to Japan on Monday with a boosted confidence following the demolition of Tonga 92-7 in their final warm-up before the World Cup.
After scoring 14 tries to one in the match, four of them belonging to wing George Bridge, coach Steve Hansen knows they won’t be able to blow away all their opposition like that at the global showpiece.
Hansen says: “You’ve got to pace yourself.
“You don’t win the tournament in the first round and once you get to the knockout round, you’ve got to earn the right to come back and train on Monday.”
The opener against the Springboks in Yokohama is arguably the most important match of the group games, with it likely to determine the winner of Pool B and the quarterfinal place against the Pool A runner-up.
The loser will likely face Ireland, who are projected to win Pool A.
FOUR-SOME HAUL: All Black wing George Bridge. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/AP.
Hansen feels comfortable with the fact that his side will need to hit the ground running first up, before they have easier matches against Canada, Namibia and Italy and then raise their game again should they make the quarterfinals.
He explains: “If you follow horse racing, you’ll understand what I mean.
“Like, you can have a horse at its first start, and it doesn’t have to be in its greatest form, it just needs to be in really good form.
“But when you really want to peak, you’re right at the very best, there’s nothing left, you can’t tinker anymore.
“The 31 people that are going, we’ve got massive belief in each and every one of them.”