All Blacks: Hunting pack power

John Afoa, Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock. Photo / Getty Images

Having let standards slip in the past two years, the All Blacks have set themselves the goal of re-establishing their position as the pre-eminent scrummaging side in world rugby.

It's where they were a year out from the last World Cup and where they want to be again this time next year. The view has been reached that scrummaging defines a pack. To be handy at the breakdown is valuable.

To be efficient at the lineout is important. But it is the way a pack scrums that sets the tone.

The scrum is where packs are judged - where the psychological battle is won; where one pack asserts itself over another.

They want to get back to crushing sides physically and mentally through their scrum.

"Scrummaging is the one area where you can be dominant; really assert yourself against the opposition," says hooker Keven Mealamu.

"If you can gain dominance, then you put a lot of doubt in the mind. I know from being on the other end that, if you are under pressure, you start to dread each scrum. It eats away at the confidence and you start to think 'not again'.

"From the other perspective, when you are on top, you know each scrum is a chance to smash them. It is a goal to be the best, but we have to put the building blocks down to get there."

One of the most critical blocks is Owen Franks. Excitement levels about his ability are hard to contain. As a red-raw 21-year-old last year, he held his own. This year he has taken a giant step.

He dealt to the Bulls twice in Super 14 and good judges look at his back at the engagement point and see a technician as good as Olo Brown and Carl Hayman.

Those same judges believe Franks is already ahead of Hayman at the same age and capable of taking the All Black scrum to the top of the world.

"The key things I learned last year were about the intensity of test matches," says Franks. "I think it's important to put down as many scrums as you can. Dealing with that challenge mentally was probably the harder part."

That resilience has been obvious in 2010. Franks doesn't blink when the ref calls engage. It's partly because he loves it.

"I guess for some people scrummaging is not the most enjoyable thing," he says.

"There have been days when I have felt like that. But since I have played prop, I have mostly enjoyed the physical side of the contest, particularly the scrummaging."

His confidence stems from his self-imposed apprenticeship. As an 18-year-old, he jumped into senior club football and took some ferocious hidings.

Far from break him, those tough days made him. Franks by-passed the academy and age-grade programmes and learned in an environment that forced him to face his demons.

That's why, at just 22, he can anchor a test scrum. That's why there is confidence that over the next 15 months the All Blacks will advance their set-piece work and slowly return to being the force they once were.

It has been noted within the camp that the confidence generated from scrummaging ascendancy flows through. In 2005 and 2006 when the All Blacks were the world's premier scrummaging side, they didn't suffer anywhere near the same number of lineout malfunctions as they have in the past two years.

Back then they were tighter and more explosive at the cleanout too. Getting the scrum right is critical if this All Black pack is to step up and find a level of cohesion, aggression and effectiveness that has not always been apparent since 2008.

"We set ourselves a very high benchmark a few years ago," says Mealamu. "Our standards were very high and it would be good to get that back."

The emergence of Franks' elder brother, Ben, is another reason for optimism. The jury will be out on Ben Franks for some time yet but his presence, if nothing else, will pile the pressure on Tony Woodcock.

But Ben is likely to do more than that. One of the reservations the All Black coaches held about him last year was his lack of bulk.

At 112kg, they felt he was just too light. His size, or lack of, was a consequence of an injury-ravaged season in 2009. An extended off-season in rude health has fixed the concerns.

Ben Franks can dead-lift 280kg - which is Olympic class. "I am up around the 115kg mark now," he says.

"Some guys struggle to keep the weight off, while I'm the opposite, I battle to keep it on. It's a case of having to work in the gym, to lift the weights, eat well and hydrate well."

The Franks boys must be close to being the two strongest men in world rugby. Mealamu says they are frightening in the gym. Brad Thorn, himself a beast, just laughs at how strong they are.

Confidence is high and the goal clear. The All Blacks have the physical strength. The question now is if they have the mental aptitude to convert that into technical superiority.

Responsibility for that lies mostly with scrum coach Mike Cron. It's time to prove he is still the master.

Cron rebuilt the All Black scrum in 2004, restoring confidence that New Zealand could be a world leader in a part of the game largely ignored between 1999 and 2003.

No one in the team has lost faith in Cron. He remains, to the players, the font of all knowledge.

Whether he is will become known. The crusade to be the best by the World Cup means improvement has to be more revolution than evolution.

The real psychological blows have to be struck in the Tri Nations. The Boks have to be subdued - to leave New Zealand fearful of Owen Franks and the power he harnesses.

Doubt has to be sown into their minds and left to spread through a team beginning to lose its fear of the All Blacks.