Keeping something in reserve with half an eye on this year’s World Cup is just not in the All Blacks’ DNA, skipper Richie McCaw said on the eve of New Zealand’s Tri-Nations opener on Friday.
Defending champions after sweeping the competition last year, the All Blacks open the shortened 2011 campaign against a South Africa team badly beaten by Australia last week and severely weakened by injury.
With huge pressure from an expectant nation that they will win the World Cup on home soil later this year, was there not a temptation just to hold something back for the Sept 9-Oct. 23 tournament?
“You just can’t,” McCaw told reporters after the Captain’s run at a windy Westpac Stadium. “The attitude that this team has, you can never ever do that. I’ve never gone onto a rugby field holding anything back.
“I’ve been in teams that have focused on something down the track and you get tipped over real quick. From a personal point of view and, I hope, a team point of view you’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“I don’t think you’d ever be in an All Black team that accepts not going out and performing,” the flanker added. “There is the thing that October is where we want to be playing better and better, but that does not mean we won’t be going out to win the test match on Saturday.”
“Rather than thinking ‘whatever happens, happens’, we’re going out to win and if that ever changes we’ve got big problems.”
Some in the team for Saturday’s test, like lock Jarrad Hoeata and winger Cory Jane, will be keen to grasp what might be their last chance to impress the selectors and get into the 30-man World Cup squad.
Their captain, however, has warned his team mates that their efforts need to be focused on the collective rather than the individual.
“We’ve talked about it as a team, we can’t control what the selectors do, all you can control is what you do when you put the jersey on and what the team does,” he said.
“There’s competition within the whole squad and everybody wants to make the most of their chance but to do that, you’ve got to do your bit for the team.
“That’s what, I guess, people do when they come to select the team — look for guys that’ll fit in and do their job well every time.”
McCaw also brushed off any suggestions that they might take the Springboks lightly after a stop-start performance in their 60-14 demolition of Fiji.
“We need to get our stuff sorted because we weren’t so crash-hot seven days ago,” he added.
“The Springboks, even though they’ve left guys at home that would normally be part of the team, they’ve still got some pretty good rugby players there who’ll be hurting after what happened in Sydney last week.
“I think the guys will be aware of that, particularly the guys who have been around a bit. Hopefully we’ve prepared as such and hopefully we’ll perform as such.”
