The All Blacks’ ”band of brothers” set out on Thursday on a rare grand-slam tour of Britain and Ireland, but with those two crucial words cut from their vocabulary.
Coach Graham Henry has been at pains to stress the ultimate aim is to build towards the 2007 World Cup, and has told his 35-man squad he won’t hear talk of a grand slam against the best of Britain and Ireland last achieved 27 years ago.
It is not a win-at-all-cost mission for Henry, who has warned that the world’s number-one-ranked rugby team cannot be expected to win every Test and said every player — including captain and vice-captain Tana Umaga and Richie McCaw — can expect to be rested for at least one match.
But while playing down the significance of facing Wales, Ireland, England and Scotland on successive Saturdays, Henry has sought South African advice on how to achieve this and appears on a television commercial proclaiming it would put the icing on the cake of a remarkable year.
The All Blacks have already walloped the British and Irish Lions and won the Tri-Nations series against Australia and South Africa, with local media coverage suggesting the nation will accept nothing less than grand-slam success on successive weekends starting at Cardiff on November 5.
”Last year, South Africa were the Tri-Nations champions, they had a grand-slam possible tour, and won two and lost two. That’s how tough it is,” Henry said.
”I’ve talked to the South Africans, I’ve talked to Jake [coach Jake White] and he told me they got too far ahead of themselves instead of taking one game at a time.
”That’s pretty important — if we get too far ahead of ourselves, we’ll fall over.”
The grand slam was last achieved by Graham Mourie’s All Blacks in 1978, and while Henry has outlawed those two key words, they weigh heavily in the minds of the players.
Veteran hooker Anton Oliver said the biggest challenge for the players is more mental than physical, although they have the assistance of playing offshore rather than facing the pressures of an expectant home crowd.
”Tours are a lot different. You are in your own sort of cocoon. I love it … you are your own little band of brothers off fighting the infidels,” he said.
The players accept Henry’s philosophy of building for the World Cup two years out, but being told all 35 players will get at least one Test, meaning the best available 15 may not necessarily take the field, is difficult to come to terms with.
”It’s always tough watching,” McCaw said. ”But you’ve got to think that you’re part of the All Blacks, which hopefully will do well, and if that means being on the sideline and the coach thinks that’s best for the team, then that’s the way it is.”
The touring squad includes five new All Blacks and the late recall of flyhalf Nick Evans after Luke McAlister pulled out this week with a knee injury. — Sapa-AFP