2015: The year we aim for triple World Cup glory

Richie McCaw in action against Australia during the Bledisloe Cup.

By catching a ride on the shoulders of giants, New Zealand sports fans have a chance to see further than they ever thought possible.

Rugby, cricket and netball each have their world cups this year and under the towering presences of captains Richie McCaw, Brendon McCullum and Casey Kopua, each has a real chance for glory.

McCullum first, for reasons of chronology, not stature, though you could say he has enjoyed a McCaw-esque 2014. Four test centuries, the smallest of them 195, the largest 302, have pushed him to an elevated position on New Zealand cricket's totem. More than weight of runs, it is McCullum's leadership and brio that has transformed New Zealand from a cricketing backwater to a genuine World Cup contender.

"We can definitely win it," he told the Herald recently, and you can't help but believe him.

A lot of things will have to fall their way, but with New Zealand playing all their pool games -- and potentially a quarter-final and semifinal -- at home, they have emerged as something more than a dark horse, something less than a favourite.

After an astonishing three years post-2011 World Cup, there is no way the All Blacks can avoid the curse of favouritism. In McCaw, they have a skipper who has tried to embrace the tag. Every game they play, there is a pretender trying to dislodge their crown.

They will not just be match-hardened by the time the World Cup rolls around, but battle-hardened -- there is a difference.

If McCaw was an over-prescribed captain in his early years, he has emerged as a more-rounded leader, capable of thinking on his feet and shifting the tempo and dynamic of matches on the fly.

The Rugby World Cup is actually a fairly simple formula for the All Blacks: their pool is so weak that all they have to do is win three knockout matches on the trot, two of them at the suddenly ultra-hostile Twickenham. Simple, right?

In many ways Kopua has the trickiest job of the three. For a start, she has a battle just to get to the World Cup. She's 11 weeks into a gruelling rehab and has just bent her knee to a 90-degree angle for the first time since her injury.

Last year was a poor one for the Silver Ferns. Irene van Dyk retired, leaving a metaphoric and literal giant hole in the shooting circle (the Ferns have not beaten Australia in a test without van Dyk since February, 1999... yes, last century millennium).

Problems were identified both on-court and off-court and a lack of "team culture" was exposed. Kopua has the opportunity to create a fresh template from which to attack Australia on their home courts. Like the CWC, the blowtorch will be on those in canary yellow.

That won't be the case at Twickenham, but the All Blacks have proved time and again over the past four years that they don't just handle pressure, but thrive on it.And if things are getting really tight, the ABs need only look to the giant in jersey No7, stand on his shoulders and ride.