Andrew Mulligan: ABs vs France? Set emotions to steady

Andrew Mehrtens and Josh Kronfeld take on South Africa's Andre Vos as the All Blacks crash to 4th place at the 1999 World Cup. Photo / Stu Forster/Allsport

We know ABs can fail so just hope for best

Mike Mitchell had the room next to mine on the second floor of our hostel in Dunedin. He was from Invercargill, about 5' 7" and had lovely red Southland hair. He was a genial chap. Very helpful when I was in a bind with any of the first-year papers we were both enrolled in at the University of Otago. This was 1995. The Rugby World Cup final happened while we were on term break so the disbelief of what happened to a red-hot All Blacks team we were certain would win wasn't truly shared until a week or so later.

The 1999 tournament was different. I lived on Frederick St in what can only be described as a bunker, owned by a man named Cliff who insisted on rolling his lawnmower through our lounge to get to the terrible strip of grass out the back. The memory of that semifinal capitulation of being up 14 and then being overrun like ants through the pantry still lives with me.

Around the corner on Hyde St lived Mike and his flatmates. They took the loss a little harder, as we found out the following afternoon, when we wandered around the corner to see his TV on the street. Mike had been so disgusted at the second-half performance of the All Blacks he picked up the TV (a fine effort for a mid-90s sized TV) and tossed it out his front door. He made the cover of Monday's Otago Daily Times; sitting on said TV, chin on his hand, looking glum. A legendary effort to make the front page of the paper and well before the days of trending, sharing and favouriting.

Emotions were raw and given Steve Hansen has professed his love for his All Blacks it's about time to discuss emotions because we're better at handling disappointment now. The years 1999, 2003 and 2007 were steep, ugly learning curves for most All Blacks fans.

But 2011 was cathartic, so this time we're better equipped for the dreaded possibility of the team not achieving what we want them to. And while the symmetry of the opposition and venue of eight years ago spooks some, the mistakes made in dealing with the pressure of expectation for the All Blacks is not. Josh Kronfeld said as much on Radio Sport yesterday from his experiences of 1995 and '99. Inability to change and the mental disintegration of some led others, according to Josh, to start trying to do it themselves, which goes against the concept of team and what the All Blacks are about.

The team now uses individual coping mechanisms during games to reset themselves and the leadership group doesn't begin and end with the captain or the most senior players. It's now about dealing with adversity in a quick, non-emotive, process. It's touchy feely to some but in this day and age of rugby, where the change in pressure during knock-out rugby can come down to cool heads, it's what's needed.

So while some of us have been through the emotional wringer and had the journey stop short of the desired destination, it's now about dealing with the next two weeks for fans, almost as much as players who'll be focusing on the challenge game by game. I just hope wherever Mike is, the flat screen is bolted to the wall.