Mitchell says All Blacks will travel to World Cup with some self-belief

THE New Zealand All Blacks have come out of an unbeaten Tri-Nations series with Australia and South Africa as favourites for the World Cup later this year on the back of a highly-disciplined game plan.

The All Blacks confirmed themselves the best southern hemisphere team with a committed 21-17 victory over the Wallabies in Auckland on Saturday to retrieve the Bledisloe Cup after five frustrating years. New Zealand, who smashed the Springboks 52-16 in South Africa and the Wallabies by a record 50-21 in Sydney, won their four games to finish 12 points ahead of the Wallabies on the standings.

The World Cup may be two months away, but the All Blacks shape as the logical favourites to land their first Webb Ellis Cup since winning the inaugural one in 1987. Skipper George Gregan, whose Wallabies redeemed themselves after the nightmare of their seven-try pounding on July 26, came away from Eden Park encouraged that they pushed New Zealand to the wire.

But the All Blacks absorbed all that the reigning World Cup champions could muster and finished two tries-to-one victors and in pyschological good stead for the World Cup in Australia in October-November. Gregan said the big difference with this year’s All Blacks was their unwavering ability to stick to their game plan under times of tremendous pressure. “They’re a very disciplined team. They’ve got very good awareness, every single player, of how they want to play,’ Gregan said.

“They’ve exhibited that throughout the Tri-Nations.

“We pressed hard and they absorbed that pressure.” Mitchell said there was little between the two trans-Tasman protagonists but it was New Zealand’s composed ability to control key parts of the match.

“You have got to win the grinds and the big ones and this will hold us in good stead. We can go into the World Cup with some self-belief,” he said. England were ushered in as World Cup favourites after vanquishing the Wallabies 25-14 on June 21 for their first victory in Australia in 40 years a week after downing the All Blacks 15-13 for England’s first win in New Zealand in 30 years.

But last impressions count more nearing the rugby showpiece and the All Blacks have clearly been the outstanding team in the Tri-Nations.

They exhibited a thrilling ability to run at angles and counter-attack from deep positions with precision and pace. Wingers Doug Howlett and Joe Rokocoko left lasting impressions with their slick finishing off inside work from fly-half Carlos Spencer and centres Tana Umaga and Aaron Mauger.

Their forwards hit hard, and although there is a perceived lineout weakness, they will prove equally as tough to knock over as England’s experienced and towering pack.

The Australians recovered from an outpouring of criticism after their abysmal flop against the All Blacks to down the Springboks 29-9 in Brisbane and their fighting four-point loss to New Zealand.

Coach Eddie Jones and Gregan took the majority of the blame for the misfiring Wallabies, who have yet to gel an attacking backline.

“We’re happy with the way we are going and we have identified some areas we want to improve on. I thought the improvement was good but we’ve still got a lot of improvement to go,” Jones said. The Wallabies go into the World Cup on the back of four losses from their last five Tests and won’t play again until the World Cup kickoff against Argentina here on October 10.