Rugby: All Blacks face hard slog in year of reckoning

All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick on the burst against England. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Players are under relentless pressure to raise the bar in the months leading up to the World Cup.

There was no gently easing into camp for the All Blacks on day one. It was bags down and into it, with head coach Steve Hansen making it clear that self-improvement is the number one goal with a view to that driving collective enhancement.

This is the year of reckoning for Hansen and his All Blacks - the next four months having the potential to dramatically alter, negatively or positively, the overall impression of his coaching tenure.

It's always this way in World Cup year - no international coach can pretend anything else matters, which is why Hansen is determined to see his team find yet more improvements and to arrive in England with still more to come.

It's much the same for a number of long-serving All Blacks who will call it quits this year: for all that the likes of Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Tony Woodcock and Keven Mealamu have achieved, the next four months will skew the weighting.

It's a tough, relentless business being an All Black and that was the message delivered by coaching staff.

The All Blacks have a chance to make history this year but they have to be prepared to drive themselves to even greater heights.

"I think the New Zealand sides have performed really, really well [in Super Rugby]," said Hansen.

"The contests between the Kiwi teams have been fierce and you want that. The skill levels have been good.

"But we all know test rugby is a little bit faster and it shows up any weaknesses you have in your game, so it is about making sure that we have a group of players that want to improve when they walk in the door and aren't satisfied with where they are. A lot of the discussions taking place over the next few days are about 'right, how do we do that?'.

"Particularly for the guys who have been here a long time. We don't want them being comfortable with their game. They have got to get uncomfortable and challenge themselves to be better."

Within reason, management will be quite happy for all 41 players to be feeling a level of anxiety during the next nine weeks.

They want players to be comfortable in the sense they understand the expectations and culture of the team - but in no way complacent about their chances of staying in it beyond the end of August.

"The next five games is a real opportunity to say, 'Right you have got an opportunity to express yourself and tell us why you should be on the plane when we name the team'," says Hansen.

"That will put some pressure on some of the older guys and also be exciting for the younger guys to think they have an opportunity to go to the World Cup if they play well.

"Both the old and the new the recipe is the same - you have got to prepare well and then go out and believe and trust your own instincts."