Photo / Richard Robinson.
In just three weeks the guests will be here. About 95,000 rugby fans are expected to visit this country during the World Cup, many of them probably for the first time.
They will know the All Blacks much better than they know New Zealand. By the end of their stay they will have a more complete impression of the New Zealand character.
Conceit, we like to think, is not part of that character. We model ourselves on modest, unassuming achievers like Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Paul Reeves and, most of the time, the All Blacks. At times our rugby heroes have been labelled arrogant or aloof but modesty can be mistaken for disdain in the taciturn.
Whenever the All Blacks have been led by confident speakers, such as Sir Wilson Whineray, Sir Brian Lochore, Graham Mourie, Sean Fitzpatrick, they have expressed the character we expected. They greeted success with modest pleasure, respected the defeated and never assumed the next result.
In Richie McCaw we have a captain in that tradition. He presents a fine image of his team and the country in everything he says and does. He and his fellow players will not let us down during the World Cup whether they succeed or fail on the field. Can we say the same for ourselves?
The character of a nation is not set in concrete. It can change slowly under influences of education, competitive media, national experiences. Whatever the reason, we hear extreme reactions to rugby results these days.
We celebrate success in superlatives and suffer failure with expressions of despair. A last-minute penalty goal can decide whether the nation spends the following week, or month or year, in contentment or mourning.
This week we have been content. The All Blacks have had a thumping victory over the Wallabies, who then beat the Springboks on their own turf. New Zealand's coaches have left half their 1st XV at home and are treating this weekend's test in South Africa as a final trial for their cup squad.
Whatever happens tomorrow morning the All Blacks are going to be favourites for the cup. A loss would merely underline how much they need Dan Carter and McCaw. A win, which of course we expect, would attest to the depth the coaches appear to have developed in just about all positions.
But either way, it is too soon to be rejoicing or surrendering to a sense of deja vu. This week we published supplements on previous World Cups. Twice the favourites have lost knock-out matches after being comfortably ahead at half-time.
The best- laid plans can go wrong in a rugby match. The rules are complicated, referees vary, an incomprehensible penalty can decide a match.
Visitors for the cup might find us an unexpected mixture of anxiety and complacency, not to say conceit. They might be surprised that the All Blacks' consistent domination of world rugby counts for so little here beside their World Cup disappointments.
The players are more balanced, deflated but not embittered by defeat, gracious in victory. In this World Cup they will not be New Zealand's only representatives. The New Zealanders visitors see, hear and meet on sidelines, in bars and on the streets will create the impression they remember. May they find us much like the All Blacks, whatever happens.