KEY POINTS:
John Hart is convinced the All Blacks can break a 20-year Rugby World Cup drought in France this year, but they will have to do it without the one key ingredient the triumphant 1987 team were able to call on.
Speaking at the first reunion of the team since that 29-9 triumph over France in the final at Eden Park, Hart said the element of surprise caught the other teams unaware.
"We took the game by storm by playing in a way no one had ever seen internationally," said Hart, who with Alex Wyllie and Brian Lochore selected the 26-man squad.
"In those days there was no video analysis, and we were able to bring a different style of game - played at pace by very fit, and fast, players - to the World Cup. I have no doubt the current All Blacks can win in France, but it will be much harder. There are no secrets now." Hart, like others at yesterday's luncheon, held in the ASB Stand, has some reservations over the controversial substitution rule.
"I would not have wanted to be the coach making the substitutions in those days. Our players were conditioned to play 80 minutes and went out expecting to do so. But what I really struggle with is watching players going on for the last one or two minutes and then being able to claim that as a 'cap'."
Hart takes special pride in the fact that four of that 1987 team - Michael Jones, Grant Fox, Sean Fitzpatrick and John Kirwan - were subsequently inducted into International Rugby's Hall of Fame.
Thirteen members of the team, including eight who played in the final, attended yesterday's reunion, organised in conjunction with the Halberg Trust, and were adamant on one thing. They accept that they hold a unique place in New Zealand sport.
Just as quickly they made it clear they will happily shed that exclusivity if the All Blacks win in France.
Auckland Rugby Union chief executive Andy Dalton, the appointed captain of the 1987 team but ruled out of any on-field action by injury, took special pride in joining his former team-mates. Commenting on the success of the then-fledgling tournament, he said: "I don't think anyone foresaw what would happen. It has become a big cash cow for the IRB. But there is still a long way to go. I, like many, thought it was going to be a one-year wonder."
It has been anything but.
