Puff could be problem for England says Thorne

Captain Reuben Thorne accepts England and France will be more match-hardened than the All Blacks going into the World Cup, but questions whether they might "run out of steam."

The top Northern and Southern Hemisphere teams are taking contrasting approaches to the tournament, which starts on October 10.

New Zealand, Australia and South Africa are about to enter a pre-World Cup series of camps, having completed their regular international season with the Tri-Nations.

Meanwhile, the Six Nations teams have completed a period of rest and training. They are now playing three to four weeks of test rugby against each other.

England and France will clash twice over the next two weekends at Marseille and Twickenham.

"They'll come into it pretty well versed on what their game plan is and everything else," Thorne said. "They will be hitting the ground running. We will get our preparation through the camps and we're going to have to use those because we can't fit in any tests now."

But Thorne is banking on the All Blacks' method proving more effective in the long run.

All teams would be looking to time their run to reach premium form from the quarter-finals onwards in November, he said.

"I don't think a lack of matches before the World Cup will be a major issue for us.

"If we manage it properly we'll be peaking at the right time and maybe these other guys will run out of steam ... hopefully."

The All Blacks can expect to comfortably win their pool games against Italy, Canada, Tonga and Wales, at the same time getting important match time together.

But coach John Mitchell warned against treating the pool games as chances to experiment.

"I think they will be very physical," Mitchell said. "Each country only has to get up once. I've experienced a World Cup before. I know exactly what we're going into. They're all just big one-offs."

Mitchell also said the five training camps would become increasingly more intense as the World Cup neared.

"The players won't be in cotton wool in the training camps," he said.

"We will start out with a heavy workload and from there have progressive, controlled contact."

The first camp is from Monday to Friday in Whangarei next week. The others are in Gisborne from September 9, New Plymouth from September 16, Nelson from September 23 and Methven from September 30.

- NZPA