World rankings, reality, injuries and form don't often get in the way of the Twickenham faithful who are always convinced England will beat whoever they are playing.
That 38-21 win against the All Blacks in 2012 was perhaps the worst thing they ever did - drawing a false picture as it did about the qualities of both teams.
And in what is a perfect storm of sorts, England find themselves in a pool with Wales, Australia and the much-improved Fiji, which is presumably why All Blacks coach Steve Hansen took his chance to drop a little doubt bomb this week.
Speaking to the Times, Hansen said: "The big thing England have to cope with is the massive expectation on them playing at home because the English will expect them to win.
"While they'll have that same expectation themselves, they still have to deal with that pressure. It's something that the All Blacks have to live with in New Zealand all the time but it might be a little bit foreign to them."
It's the suffocating, relentless pressure of being at home for a World Cup that might surprise England - drive them a little nuts. What changes is the inescapable nature of the pressure off the field.
There's nowhere to hide from it. Media coverage will be beyond saturation. The team hotel will have reminders everywhere. Walk out the door and people who would normally have no idea, will be offering friendly reminders to make sure they win. There is no privacy - players are suddenly public property.
That sort of pressure lives in the head. It's hard to shut out. It's draining, it can be overwhelming and it can be debilitating on game day.
In 2011, many of the All Blacks talked about being under siege - of this endless anxiety they felt at carrying the nation's hopes. None of them particularly liked it - it was more a case of enduring than enjoying.
But the difference with the All Blacks is that this kind of scrutiny and pressure is a constant for them once they are on the field. They can never escape expectation. It doesn't matter if they are playing Scotland or South Africa - New Zealanders expect victory and a World Cup presents no discernible difference.
There's also a level of sophistication within the All Blacks these days about how they deal with pressure - a situation that has arisen because Hansen has long-held the belief that it is the most significant intangible component that impacts test rugby.
"There are so many examples where players have felt the pressure and it has affected their performance," he said. "There are so many moments where players and teams have succumbed to that pressure.
"You have to be able to embrace it. To be able to work with it. We saw an example of it not so long ago when Johnny Sexton - one of the best goal-kickers in the world - missed an easy one against us. That was pressure. He'd normally have nailed it."
The All Blacks don't pretend it's not there or make it the elephant in the room. They have built strategies to cope with pressure and manage it and sessions with mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka are now an ingrained part of the preparation.
"One of the things that I do know is that no one is immune to pressure," says Enoka. "It's very hard to predict what will happen in the sense that there are players that you might think will be able to cope with it and others that you don't and then it turns out the other way. I like to think [of pressure] as where faith and fear collide.
"Take Rugby World Cup - it's a huge event where players will be under more scrutiny than usual and when all the various factors combine - of playing for your country on the biggest stage - that can make a cauldron. Some players can fire up in that cauldron and for others ... it frightens them."
Whether Hansen believes it or not, he's going to push the line that England may be frightened by the pressure they encounter. And whether England believe it or not, they might find, in a month's time, that he's right.
