KEY POINTS:
We've all lived it before. An All Black team, seemingly the most complete of any side at the tournament, sweeping everything before it until coming ingloriously unstuck at a time when it had seemed impregnable.
Can it happen again?
Certainly any outcome is possible given the pressure of the World Cup, but this All Black team will be harder to shut down than its predecessors.
Such is the collective experience the All Blacks now have - especially with 15 of the players back from the match day 22 who lost the 2003 semifinal - the side should be good enough not to be strangled by an opponent intent on playing to shut them down.
The importance of the All Blacks' past tournament experience should not be underrated - England had 14 veterans of its 1999 failure among its class of 2003, and the Australian side that made the last final had 10 back from its 1999 tournament success.
That experience should counter our most frequent failing of past tournaments: an inability to break the shackles when confronted by a determined opposition that has sought to prevent the All Blacks from playing their expansive style.
The same attempt will be made by opponents this time.
History suggests it is unlikely - even if they win the World Cup - that the All Blacks will get through without being seriously threatened at some stage.
Australia (1991, 1999), South Africa (1995), and England (2003) all faced moments of high anxiety during their respective wins and got through them.
In three of the four cases, that involved going to extra time and holding their nerve to win sudden death elimination matches.
Whoever wins this year's tournament will have to overcome similar anxiety.
This is because the World Cup, especially in the playoff phase, is not like the ordinary test matches we all play.
The excitement levels of the players, their bloody-mindedness, and the adrenalin that they run on are all at much higher levels.
As a consequence, the games generally don't open up - especially in the latter stages - like other test matches do.
For that reason, the start will be critical in every All Black match, both for them and their opposition.
If the All Blacks can get away early, they will take away their opponents' belief while forcing them to play a more adventurous style than they had probably planned in order to chase the game.
In that instance, the All Blacks will force mistakes and capitalise on them.
While the All Blacks of 1999 did get run over from behind by France in that epic semifinal at Twickenham, I doubt we will see a similar instance occur with the current side.
With so many of the players involved having experienced pain from the last tournament, that will have added a ruthless streak which should ensure they don't let an opponent back into the game once an advantage has been established.
Those aspiring to beat the All Blacks will need to start well and stay in the game for as long as they can.
The longer they can, the greater the possibility will grow that the scoreline may inhibit the All Blacks, drive them into a state where they start to doubt themselves.
Then, the All Blacks would become vulnerable, and beatable.
It may be that being placed in that position at some stage during this tournament will ultimately define whether the current All Black side is any different to its predecessors.
Robbie Deans is a former All Black, All Blacks assistant coach and coach of the Crusaders
