The Invicible All Blacks?

       A few of you may know this but most won't, this morning New Zealand secured a historic Tri-Nations (New Zealand, Australia and South Africa) clean sweep with victory over Australia with a 22-23 win in the final Test in Sydney, a second half come back from 14-6 down earned the All Blacks a record 10th striaght win over the Wallibies.  New Zealand had alrady won the Tri-Nations title and beaten their fiercest rivals to secure the Bledisloe Cup, the New Zealand and Australia version of the Calcutta Cup between England and Scotland.
       Piri Weepu opened the scoring with an early penalty, the signs were promising for the All Blacks.  The Australians came back very strongly nearly replying immediately and with both sides showing so much attacking intent, the opening try was just a matter of time, and when it came, it was for Australia.  A poor piece of defending by New Zealand  after a Aussie scrum lead to a break from McCalman how passed to O'Connor to score in the corner.  The conversion was missed but Giteau got another penalty before the half to leave them 14-6 up.
       Both side new that next try would be crucial and the host where the side to get it after a sustained period of pressure Ashley-Cooper went over in the left-hand corner but Giteau missed the conversion again.  With only a quarter of the match remaining the All Blacks threw on the subs and they looked like a stroke of coaching genius with captain McCaw scurrying over from the back of a scrum to touch down, Weepu's conversion closing the gap to six points.
       With just over five minutes to go the visitors took the lead after another sustained period of pressure, McCaw's short pass allowing number eight Read to power over from close range under the posts.  That allowed Weepu the simplest of conversions to put them in front. That left McCaw celebrating a remarkable 46th victory from his record 52 Tests as captain, and the All Blacks with a 15th straight victory - moving within two of the joint record in elite internationals held by New Zealand (1965-69) and South Africa (1997-98).
   
      But any long term follower of rugby will know that New Zealand have been top of the IRB World Rankings before every single Rugby World Cup but after wining the inaugural one they have only come close to winning it once losing the 1995 in extra time.  New Zealand are the best rugby nation in the world but they crumble everytime the pressure comes and they fail to meet the expectations.  Will New Zealand fail again when the Rugby World Cup returns to New Zealand, this time next year or will they perform the same way they did last time it was in New Zealand?  The answer is anyones to guess.