Rugby World Cup 2023: New Zealand showing how much it hurt when country turned against them - Gregor Paul

OPINION

Gregor Paul in Paris

What’s emerging, now that the World Cup final is just days away, is how deeply the All Blacks felt the pain of last year, when they were all but written off by their own media, public and in some cases, friends and family.

The miseries the All Blacks endured in 2022 have been well traversed and a handful of players heavily involved have previously talked of how challenging it was to endure an unfathomable journey, where they lost four of their first six tests and yet went on to claim the Rugby Championship.

But whatever has been said before didn’t get remotely close to unveiling the truth about the hurt which pervaded the side in August and September last year.

Players always say the external noise never penetrates, but last year it did. They heard the media calling for their coach’s head. They felt the public’s disappointment with the constant losses, but more the inability to learn from them.

But the place where they felt the greatest disappointment was within themselves. In their own hearts, they knew the criticism was justified and of all the people they were letting down, it hurt the most to know it was themselves.

Every All Black knows what others sacrifice to get them to where they are: there are parents working two jobs; teachers spending hours away from their own families; local rugby club volunteers fundraising on their weekends. It’s not 10,000 hours of playing, training and pushing themselves to the limit that makes an All Black - but 10 times that figure when the community toil is considered.

What the All Blacks felt last year was the almost indelible pain of knowing they weren’t living up to the standards they set for themselves and were therefore not honouring the sacrifices of all those who had done so much to get them into the jersey.

It’s the kind of pain that doesn’t shift with a few test wins here and there, but the type that can only be eased by achieving something so momentous as to be redefining.

And that’s why the whole All Blacks squad and management team found themselves sitting together on Monday night at their base in Paris, with Churchillian speeches being made, tears flowing and an already-deep bond becoming deeper.

What they went through last year could have split them, and seen them drop the team-first ethos in favour of self-preservation.

It wasn’t just head coach Ian Foster trying to save his job 14 months ago, there were players under similar pressure to prove they had what it took to uphold the legacy of the All Blacks.

Pressure like that can make players self-protective and insular - play with the goal of saving their own contracts, rather than working together to save the reputation of the team.

But it didn’t break them, it drew them closer together. They had collectively got themselves into the mess and they would collectively get themselves out.

The All Blacks perform the haka in front of South Africa at Twickenham this year. Photo / Getty Images

They stopped listening to the blah, blah and the naysayers, the merchants of doom who prophesied only yet more losses and World Cup failure.

Instead, they looked at each other and their coaching team and said the next 14 months would be about proving to themselves that they had the drive, the cohesion and the ability to be the team they wanted to be.

They said to themselves that their moment would come at the World Cup. That they would head to France as a galvanised band of brothers, everyone still doubting them, no one backing them to win, and that they wouldn’t care, wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t doubt themselves - and their conviction in each other and their coaches would not waver.

And this is why they found themselves baring their souls to one another on Monday night.

They have so nearly reached their summit, but history won’t be made if they don’t win on Sunday morning: the pain won’t be quashed, the redemption story won’t be written.

Given all they have been through - the 37 phases they held out for against Ireland in the closing minutes, the loss to France in the opening game, the demolition of Italy - to get to this final, the All Blacks know it will all be for nothing if they don’t dig yet deeper into themselves one more time to be crowned champions.

There’s an unmissable stoicism about them now. They had a little moment of celebration when they beat Ireland in the quarter-finals. They had to, it was not only an epic and draining contest, but it was also a victory that signalled how far they had come in 14 months. But the following week, they beat Argentina, smiled once, enjoyed a day off and were then back to business.

This is not a team without joy or levity, but right now they have such a singularity of purpose that they dare not let anything break their focus.

This is an All Blacks team that has been profoundly shaped by the adversity they have faced and seem to now be on an unstoppable crusade to win a World Cup.

How to follow the World Cup final

8am, Sunday

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Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.