KEY POINTS:
Corsica, where the All Blacks have been stationed, is home to the French Foreign Legion. It's interesting because I think there are some parallels.
The All Blacks have visited the Legionnaires before, on a previous visit, and they ended up having a few beers with them. Just like the Legion, they have to be a force which can operate efficiently and effectively away from home.
The Legion is low key - you don't see or hear anything about them. All the talk in the UK about the All Blacks has been about how low key they are - they have pretty much been running in silent mode for the past month.
And, just like the Legion, the All Blacks need to mesh together well; to bond, I suppose, so they work together to the greatest effect.
It's a smart move, just like so many of Graham Henry's other moves. Corsica is France but it's not France and it will allow them space and time to grow into their skins as a team but away from the full intensity of the World Cup.
You may gather I am feeling pretty confident about our chances. None of us would be daft enough to come out and say the Cup is ours yet but I think the All Blacks are justifying their favouritism. I don't think any of the Home Nations teams will do well - Ireland and Scotland will not progress beyond the pool phases but the Argentinians and the Italians will, because of the physicality of their game. Wales will probably get through but go no further.
The All Blacks will be happy to be in Europe and I have listened to Dan Carter and others say how glad they will be to get to France because, basically, they are so sick of training. That's a bit like the Legion, too. You can train until you are honed and perfect in the drills but nothing compares with being in action.
I can remember back in 1995, when the All Blacks were also meticulously prepared and that time in South Africa when we came together even more strongly as a team; where there was a good feeling of unity - as compared with 1991, when we had the best talent in the world but we weren't much of a team.
Laurie Mains, almost without knowing it, had started preparing that 1995 team for the World Cup in 1992 and I remember him turning up to camp in 1994 with an huge amount of information on our pool opposition - to the extent that you looked at him and thought: "Whoa, get a life...".
I mention that only because it seems close to the preparation of the All Blacks this time. Everything Graham Henry has done to prepare these All Blacks has worked - it has been an almost faultless build-up. Some people in the UK are wondering if they are going to be undercooked and not get a really hard game until the quarter-final and, fair enough, I guess we all wonder about that a bit.
I think they have selected well, they have prepared as well as they could and we are all prepared to go with and forgive the rotation, the rehab and all that as long as they bring back the Cup.
Henry has made it quite clear what sort of player he wants, he has cast his net wide and he has got rid of quite a few players over the past three years - players who couldn't step up to what he wanted.
It's harsh - and I am sure it is not easy to do - but it's the best way and those 30 players picked will now be getting right into World Cup mode and pulling together as a team and a unit and taking that special pride in that black jersey.
They'll be hard to beat, even if we know - and how we know - that it can all come down to one game on any one day.
