Editorial: It's a long way to the World Cup

Opinion

It would be easy to yield to temptation in the wake of the All Blacks' powerful and pulsating test series triumph against the British and Irish Lions. To proclaim that this is the dawn of a great era, and that this team will bring home the 2007 World Cup. The urge should, however, be resisted. It was, after all, just two years ago that similar things were being said about an All Black side which had beaten South Africa 52-16 in Pretoria and Australia 50-21 in Sydney. Within four months, at the 2003 World Cup, it had all proved a chimera.

Having said that, only a curmudgeon would deny the All Blacks have performed superbly in the first two tests against the Lions, and that this bodes well. It was the Lions' misfortune to run up against a side playing near the top of its game. This, probably more than the tourists' weaknesses, was the key to the series.

Not that the Lions helped themselves too much. Their coach, Sir Clive Woodward, having won the last World Cup with England, created a touring party that smacked of bloat and blather, and not a little self-aggrandisement. It may, as he maintains, have been the best-prepared Lions squad to leave the British Isles. But it was far from the best.

To add to the self-inflicted woes, it suffered wretched luck. Only a most unfortunate team loses its captain (Brian O'Driscoll), its most influential forward (Lawrence Dallaglio), its leading lineout exponent (Malcolm O'Kelly) and assorted lesser lights before the pivotal test. It is an odd management, however, that chooses to fly in replacements, rather than utilise original choices. This made a mockery of the initial selection, and of Sir Clive's reasoning that injuries necessitated having so unwieldy a squad for just 11 matches.

It seems apparent that the die was cast before the team left London. The coach had determined his test XV and the style it would play. Central to this was a kicking first five-eighths burdened by a dodgy shoulder and a lack of recent matchplay. When the calamitous first test confirmed this was a trial too soon for Jonny Wilkinson and a bridge too far for England's ageing World Cup heroes, Sir Clive was forced to turn to his Wesh contingent and, virtually overnight, a more expansive game. Much was made of Wales' success in this year's Six Nations championship, but the appropriate yardstick of the principality's rugby was the failure to beat an experimental All Black side in Cardiff late last year.

The most pleasing aspect of New Zealand's performance was undoubtedly the setpiece excellence of its forwards. Too often in the past, this has been a source of frailty. As it was, the side had the platform to play the fast, expansive game first attempted by John Mitchell. The new Graham Henry-led coaching team has augmented this with an emphasis on skilful offloading in the tackle and increased intensity at the breakdown.

It is the All Blacks' misfortune that much rugby will be played between now and the World Cup. This gives opponents time and the opportunity to devise measures to counter their dynamism, or to raise their own skills and standard to a similar level. The task for the All Blacks is to be aware of the likely counters, to be able to react to them, and to keep the opposition guessing by adding new elements to their own game.

This is a time for quiet satisfaction, not bold statement. A time to reflect that, even in the age of professionalism, New Zealand remains the most daunting of assignments for a touring side. That, for now, should be more than enough.