Kefu rates All Blacks but opinion not unanimous

Former Wallabies No 8 Toutai Kefu is talking up the All Blacks ahead of their Tri-Nations rugby campaign, but Wales assistant coach Scott Johnson believes the Wallabies have no need to fear them.

Kefu thinks the All Blacks can emulate the Wallabies of 2001 who beat the Lions and then won the Tri-Nations.

Kefu scored the match-winning try in Sydney against New Zealand that year.

"The All Blacks are playing great and they definitely have a very good chance to win the Tri-Nations," he told The Australian newspaper.

"What I like about them is their forward pack. There is a bit of hunger and old school confrontational All Black style.

"That is a lot more evident in the last couple of years. It was missing for a few years. That front-foot style is back."

But Kefu said the Tri-Nations would be the most competitive since the inception of the series.

"There is no clear cut favourite. They are all equal. The home ground advantage is going to be very important."

Johnson, an Australian, who described New Zealand as a "poxy island in the Pacific" before Wales' test against the All Blacks last November, does not rate the All Blacks as highly as Kefu.

"People shouldn't be frightened by the Lions result (3-0 series win to All Blacks) at all," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"In many ways the Lions underachieved, I think it's fair to say that. Even though this All Blacks side is quality, pre-tour I didn't think there was all that much difference between the two teams.

"New Zealand maximised, and the Lions underachieved, so there's the argument both ways."

Johnson, who assisted the Lions with video analysis during their tour, said New Zealand still had some holes in their squad.

"I think they're there for the taking, purely because they will be chopping and changing a little bit with their team, working on that depth.

"If they have an injury to their locks or even in their front row, they haven't got the depth. And I think in the next two years they'll certainly be trying to win the Tri-Nations, but I think they'll be trying to expose a few kids to this level of rugby as well."

He stressed he was not suggesting the All Blacks would be an easy proposition, but that they are far from the finished product that could sweep all before them as they did the Lions.

"You may get them on an off night, and I think they do scare if they're not scoring points. They do scare, because they don't realise that sometimes you have to grind it out to win it.

"If it's a tough game New Zealand start to doubt themselves. They're not insurmountable at all."

New Zealand open their Tri-Nations campaign against South Africa in Cape Town on Sunday morning (NZ time).

- NZPA