Rugby World Cup 2015: All Blacks' big plus: they know who they are

All Blacks Julian Savea, Ma'a Nonu, Victor Vito, Kieran Read and Charlie Faumuina celebrate at the final whistle after winning the Rugby World Cup. Photo / Brett Phibbs

When Rugby World Cup organisers were plotting the event, they always wanted to believe the Webb Ellis Cup would end up at Pennyhill Park.

Pennyhill is of course England's lavish home base where they would have been had they not crashed out in the pool rounds.

Quite how England felt watching the All Blacks dominate "their" tournament and then return to celebrate at "their" base and then sleep in "their" beds would be intriguing to find out.

If England are smart, what they will have been thinking is just how much they have to do to become as good as the All Blacks. They should also realise the All Blacks have pulled off back-to-back World Cups on a budget barely half of England's.

The All Blacks don't have a fancy, well-resourced training base. They don't have a quaint little scrum garden, a marginal gains coach or a giant wall with inspirational platitudes.

And it's that last point which is the most salient as the All Blacks prepare to touch down in New Zealand.

They know who they are.

There is nothing contrived about the All Blacks. No one has to wonder what it means to wear the jersey or try hard to find the pride in it all.

Much of that is down to the power of the legacy. More than 100 years of sustained excellence will do that - give the nation a good feel for what it's all about and what's expected.

New players arrive and they don't really need to be told, in the broader sense at least, the history of the brand. They don't need to sit down and have it explained that it is quite a big deal to have a test jersey in their kit bag and how they should feel about that.

If England's troubles could be summed up quickly and neatly, their lack of understanding as to who and what they are is perhaps at the core.

National identity can't be contrived. A wall with so-called inspirational quotes on it feels superficial and forced. How does that even work? Are players expected to sit and look at it and then feel more English?

This isn't about being unduly unkind, it's to illustrate the natural advantage the All Blacks have.

Perhaps New Zealanders don't often realise how other nations struggle to foster the same sense of understanding and connection.

Nor is it often fully appreciated how important that knowledge and understanding is.

Maybe before they leave, the All Blacks could write on the wall of inspiration: "Be yourselves".

It's worked magnificently for the New Zealand team.