All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has warned his side against becoming complacent despite believing his side are fully focused on retaining the Webb Ellis trophy.
New Zealand successfully managed to win the World Cup four years ago in their home nation – only their second time of winning since the first Rugby World Cup tournament in 1987, but have suffered heartbreak on a number of occasions including finishing as runners-up in 1995.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McCaw said: “I think we have got to use some experiences from that time, both good and bad from the last couple that a few of us have been involved in and realise that you’ve got to throw absolutely everything into the game and get ahead and not get too far ahead of yourself.
“When it gets to knockout time, quarter-final, you’ve got no thought about anything else but that week and if you’re good enough you get another chance, but you start talking about a three-week block or even getting out the pool phase at first that’s when you get a bit carried away.”
Having managed to cement their place at the top of the world rankings since the introduction of the system in October 2003 the All Blacks have struggled to transfer this consistency into the biggest tournament in rugby union, drawing large-scale criticism that McCaw believes is only looked upon at the close of a campaign.
“I think at the end of it you’ll look back and that’s the key,” said McCaw. “But you don’t go in there trying to save yourself either, you’ve got to go and put in a good weeks prep next time and try and play your best. So you don’t try and time it, you just want to play better and better and if at the end of it, you look back and say we got that right, well then that’s probably what you say.”
New Zealand have so far started the campaign with a 100% record with a hard-earned 26-10 victory over Argentina and a more comfortable 58-14 victory over Namibia at the Olympic Stadium.
However, the most-capped test player of all time says that his side must keep improving if they are to achieve back-to-back World Cups.
McCaw said: “That’s the thing first of all you want to get the couple of wins. I think we are realistic that we have still got to keep improving because that’s what the nature of this tournament is. If you’re going to keep progression you’ve got to get better and better. We are a reasonably healthy squad and two wins under the belt so happy enough.”
