KEY POINTS:
There is much to admire about the way New Zealanders play rugby and, in many cases, it is the envy of the world. There was no sarcasm from French coach Bernard Laporte at the World Cup when he said the All Blacks were still the best team in
the world.
Strapped to a lie detector other coaches too would set off a hefty blip in the polygraph if they did not admit they have tried to emulate many of the things the All Blacks have achieved.
The test scrum has become a global force. Players like Richie McCaw, Daniel Carter, Carl Hayman, Ali Williams, Jerry Collins and Mils Muliaina, over time, have shown they are some of the most consistent performers on the world stage.
But - and the capital B has got bigger after the quarterfinal failure against the French in Cardiff - the All Blacks have also shown they are consistently unable to finish at the last five World Cups.
No matter the strategy, the personnel, the kid-glove protection scheme this season, New Zealand still has no second engraving on the Webb Ellis Cup. It is a quirk of the sport that the All Blacks dominate the intervening years and then bow to the demands of knockout World Cup rugby.
Each tournament, reasons can be found.
In 1991, an ageing side lost to a more vibrant Wallaby team; in 1995, the All Blacks could not cope with ill-health and a defiant Springbok defence; in 1999, they were mown down by a withering French comeback. Four years ago, a young side fell to the Wallaby pressure and this time they succumbed as much to the French defence as their own mental frailties again.
Until the All Blacks win another title, there will be theory and supposition in the vacuum. Graham Henry sold his campaign to the NZRU on the principle that the All Blacks could not continue as they had, change was necessary - nay, essential - and yet the team collected their worst World Cup finish.
Conditioning must be beneficial to players but they cannot be treated just as athletes, they need to play. That is what they do. The problem is finding time for them to go through that training pre-season, so it does not interfere with their involvement in the Super 14.
There are whispers about New Zealand toying with the idea of aligning their test season with the Six Nations and then shifting into a Super 14 later in March but that makes as much sense as putting the cart before the horse.
If elite players are going to be involved in just the Super 14, and internationals, it would be far better to start the Super 14 in April then push on to test matches in the same timeframe as we have had at the World Cup. Some of that may appear at the IRB meeting scheduled for November but the NZRU is non-commital about any proposals now.
The problem is that the Super 14 is an extra series shoehorned into a year that used to work smoothly with club, NPC, tours and test rugby. Until we resort to a transtasman, NRL-style series that can combine the best of the provincial loyalty from the national championship and the professionalism of the Super 14, the difficulties will remain.
The Super 14 has also created a very homogenised New Zealand style. The All Black coaches drive their ideas, which percolate down to the New Zealand Junior coaches who lead franchises; all the tutors seem to feed from the same trough so players, when picked for higher honours, are quick to fit into a national pattern.
There is a sameness about the style throughout the Super series, a template that has been decreed, unlike the mix of styles that provincial sides used to adapt to their players' strengths.
When Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith had their contracts rolled over in 2005 to the World Cup, some of the funny stuff started. Rest and rotation became the buzz words, player welfare and player depth the causes celebres.
There were excuses to alternate some players far more than others - for McCaw, Carter, Hayman and Muliaina, the same welfare rules did not appear to apply.
It made more sense to send another team ahead to Argentina in 2006 but the interchanging did not stop right through until the World Cup exit. It made you wonder if some special clause had been inserted in the players' collective.
The All Blacks were short of match play at the World Cup, they were underdone and their lack of game time was exacerbated by their weak pool opponents.
Slapping on 309 points in pool play, while making far too many errors and conceding 35 points, was no preparation for Cardiff. The All Blacks could not change the draw but they could have got their men playing far more in the three months before and during the World Cup.
So, next year it would be great to see a reduced All Black squad chosen after the Super 14 to begin the domestic series against Ireland and England. Pick those who are in condition and play one test at a time.
It is hard to see that occurring because the NZRU has decided to replace the Juniors with the NZ Maori side next year in the Pacific Nations Cup.
The unfortunate decision to select players because of their race rather than on merit suggests the All Black panel intended to pick a bloated squad for the domestic test and Tri-Nations.
It would be great to watch the next few seasons and forget about the next World Cup but that will not be at all easy.
The next event is four years away, but the enveloping activity and publicity starting in New Zealand may soon make that as suffocating as the quarterfinal was for the All Blacks.
