New Zealand will bid to pull off the greatest World Cup turnaround in Saturday night’s final showdown with South Africa in Paris.
This iteration of All Blacks loves doing things the hard way. From a record low world ranking of fifth in July 2022, when boss Ian Foster almost lost his job, New Zealand made sweeping changes, rallied – then faltered again.
New coaches Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan answered the All Blacks cavalry call after a maiden Test series defeat by Ireland last summer.
Fast forward to August 25 at Twickenham, and New Zealand were feeling good and ready for the fast-approaching World Cup. And then South Africa steamrollered them with their heaviest-ever international defeat.
That 35-7 loss prompted yet another bout of hand wringing and soul searching, and the misery was only prolonged by the 27-13 loss to France that opened New Zealand’s tournament.
The All Blacks whipped themselves into shape and gained revenge for that 2022 Test series loss by defeating Ireland 28-24 in the quarter-finals, then thrashed Argentina 44-6 in the last four.
Complete another vengeance quest against the Boks at the Stade de France, and New Zealand will put the seal on a serious reversal of fortunes.
“It has been very difficult,” admitted wing Will Jordan, who needs just one try to set an outright individual tournament record of nine scores.
“It has taken a huge amount of drive to turn it around to get it right.
“In 2022 we were a bit astray but we have come out of the fire a bit and I guess the big thing for us now has been the consistency has been found. We have been able to put back-to-back performances together, which is probably what was missing before.
“The challenge for us tomorrow night is to be able to go three big games in a row. It’s been a challenging period but it’s where we want to be now.”
Fly-half Richie Mo’unga accepted the scale of change in the New Zealand camp has been stark.
“It has been some journey, we have been really motivated to fill this black jersey,” said Mo’unga.
“We are getting little blocks in our game right. A big part of that is our DNA and what makes this team tick and how we can do this at high quality for 80 minutes.
“We are all excited to put our best foot forward and give it a crack, and if we do that we will make ourselves proud.”
Sam Whitelock will play his 153rd Test for the All Blacks, in his third World Cup final. The 35-year-old will set a record simply by setting foot in a third World Cup showpiece, but will go all-out to lift the Webb Ellis Cup once more, to add to 2011 and 2015.
“The real message the experienced players like Sam have passed on is not spoken, it’s done,” said head coach Foster.
“It’s about actions, it’s just showing how to prepare, how to deal with pressure. It’s been a highlight reel of achievements for Sam the last five or six weeks.
“Being the first man to win three World Cups, that would be pretty special. We would feel a lot of honour if that happened.”
