Rather too much is being made of suggestions that the All Blacks will not win the World Cup because they are past their best. That idea has been propagated by former Wallaby Toutai Kefu, who talked of "stars on the wane".
Grist to this mill for some was the factthat the All Blacks team which plays Australia at Eden Park tonight will be the oldest in their test history.
A more reasonable reading, however, would be that this team has a line-up which in age and experience, echoes most that have won the game's biggest prize.
In all sports, World Cups are rarely won by teams of tyros. As much as such players bring youthful enthusiasm, they also deliver inconsistent performance. At some stage during a lengthy tournament, they get caught out. The model of a successful World Cup team usually involves players in their late 20s and early 30s. With them comes experience, nous and consistency.
Tonight's All Black starting line-up features 12 players in that age bracket.
The only exceptions are Owen Franks and Kieran Read (23 and 25, respectively) and Brad Thorn (36). Equally, six of the line-up featured in the All Blacks' youngest starting line-up, against Wales in 2004, when Richie McCaw played his first test as captain.
That says much about a continuity of performance that has had the side routinely ranked as the best in the world. It also suggests they are about as vulnerable, for that reason, as England's "Dad's Army", which won the 2003 World Cup.
