ABs tackle away record

Resident psychologist Gilbert Enoka may hold the key to the All Blacks learning to win away from home more regularly.

The All Blacks have become a Jeykll and Hyde team, having lost only 10 of 89 home games in the past 20 years, compared with the 26 defeats from 92 games they have suffered away from home.

The fact the All Blacks are effectively losing every fourth away game throws into serious doubt their ability to win the next World Cup, which will be played in France.

You have to go back to 1997 to find the last time the All Blacks went through a calendar year without losing away from home.

Contrast that with their recent home record, in which they remain unbeaten since 2001.

The challenge, then, for Enoka is to come up with strategies to help the All Blacks overcome their offshore hoodoo.

Leading sports psychologist Dave Hadfield said the problem has to be psychological. The game, after all, is played on the same size pitch, under the same rules, regardless of venue.

"If you look at the technical and tactical aspects, nothing changes when you play away from home," said Hadfield. "There could, in some cases, be an element of physical alteration with the effects of travel. But, really, you would have to say the big difference is psychological.

"The players' routines will not be the same away from home. They will not be sleeping in their own bed and the opposition can create a hostile atmosphere.

"The All Blacks have got a smart bunch of guys at the helm and I would assume that Gilbert is working on ways to help the guys cope with the perceived issues they have when they are playing away from home."

Hadfield, who has previously worked with the Hurricanes, recalls that the Wellington-based Super 12 franchise were struggling to win in South Africa for a period.

After some detailed consultation with the players, it was agreed the problem was one of perception.

The players had convinced themselves that there were reasons why they couldn't get a win in South Africa and lacked self-belief when they travelled to the Republic.

"After a while the players said: 'Hang on, we can beat these guys'. We started to ask why we thought we couldn't win over there and couldn't find any reasons.

"So we banned all talk about playing at altitude and no one was allowed to talk about the effects of travelling. And now New Zealand teams travel over there and win regularly. As Shakespeare said, there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking it makes it so."

With a Grand Slam tour at the end of the year, the All Blacks have the perfect opportunity to prove to themselves they can win four games back-to-back, away from home.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY