League: Kiwis facing weight of expectation

Kevin Proctor and the Kiwis are facing an atypical level of expectations. Photo / Getty

The Kiwis are about to get a lesson in expectation over the next month.

For the first time in many moons, the New Zealand side have arrived in England as the undisputed No1 nation in the world.

It's been a rare occurrence over the years; there's probably only been three Kiwi touring sides coming close to that level in the last five decades.

In 1971 the Roy Christian-captained team were highly fancied - having beaten Australia at Carlaw Park earlier that year - and duly delivered the first series win in England since the 1907-08 tour. But they had suffered comprehensive defeats to both the Kangaroos and the Lions in the 1970 World Cup, and finished below France (on points differential) in that tournament.

In 1985 the Kiwis arrived in the United Kingdom with high hopes; there had even been media talk of them replicating the unbeaten tour of the 1982 Kangaroo 'Invincibles'. But Australia remained the benchmark, as they had beaten the Kiwis 2-1 in a desperately close series earlier that year. Graham Lowe's team squared the series 1-1 with Great Britain.

The only other Kiwis side to arrive in the northern hemisphere as heavy favourites was Frank Endacott's 1998 squad. They had taken tests off Australia in successive years, and had the supreme talents of Stacey Jones, Henry and Robbie Paul, Ruben Wiki and Quentin Pongia. They delivered in England, recording the first series win since 1971.

That is the kind of level this Kiwis team will be judged against over the next four weeks. Even with the number of high profile withdrawals, nothing less than a series win will suffice for Stephen Kearney's team; that's how it goes when you are top of the tree.

"Yeah, it's probably the first camp we have come into being seen as the best team in the world," said Kevin Proctor. "Even in the Anzac test [this year] some people thought Australia might bounce back. But we have been building steadily over the last few years and we have our own standards. We know what we need to do."

It's something the All Blacks have to deal with before every match, while our netballers and cricketers have been saddled with heavy favouritism at certain periods during their histories. But it's a new experience for the Kiwis, who tend to thrive as the brave underdogs.

However, they certainly won't underestimate the English. It's always tough to perform on this side of the world and New Zealand have won just four of their last 15 encounters against the hosts on British soil, dating back to the 2000 World Cup.

"We know how tough it is going to be," said Curtis Rona. "England has a lot of quality and we are ready for a battle."

After a tougher than expected training session yesterday - "It was supposed to be a light walk through but got pretty physical...shows the boys are up for it," laughed Proctor - the Kiwis have the day off today.

The team has their captain's run tomorrow at Headingley Stadium, ahead of the tour opener against Leeds on Saturday (8am NZT).

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