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Wellington - The All Blacks expect to play an attacking high-tempo game at the Rugby World Cup but would be more than happy to 'win ugly' if it means the difference between hoisting aloft the Webb Ellis trophy or enduring another four years of misery.
"I don't think you will see too much different (from our normal playing style)," scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan said at the New Zealand team's media day in Auckland.
"We're all instinctive players and you don't want to inhibit that (but) I'm sure we will take an ugly win to win the World Cup. I don't care how we win, as long as we do win.
"We all go out there to try and play the public game but it's not always going to happen because you have 15 players trying to stop you from doing that."
Utility back Israel Dagg, one of the more potent attacking players in the All Blacks backline, echoed the sentiment of Cowan and said that observers only had to look at previous World Cup finals to see how teams won the tournament.
"We definitely will run," he said. "(But) I don't really care, drop kicks, penalty kicks, as long as we win.
"That's how the English do it, how the (South) Africans do it. They win ugly. They grind teams down and if we win, we win."
Veteran fullback Mils Muliaina, who is leaving New Zealand to play in Japan after the tournament, said he felt there was excitement building in the team and it was his job as one of the older hands to balance that exuberance with the knowledge that there was still a job to do.
"You have to let it (excitement) flow really," the 31-year-old said before he began his third World Cup. "There is always the task at hand that you come back to but you can't afford not to have that bubble around the team environment.
"This is a World Cup and it only comes around every four years, and I can tell you four years is a heck of a long time (to wait for another chance).
"So you don't try to contain that (excitement) at all. You just have to make sure that the guys are excited about it but still have plenty left in the tank."
The All Blacks have not won the World Cup since the first was held in New Zealand in 1987 and despite entering the tournament as favourites, observers suggest their fast-paced style was not conducive to winning tournament rugby.
Coach Graham Henry, who told British newspaper The Independent in 2006 that he did not think New Zealand would ever resort to a tight, conservative game plan to win the title, appeared to also have accepted the 'winning ugly' mantra.
"Hopefully we have learned from the past," Henry said.
"I think once we get into the round robin we have to set some goals there and obviously that is qualify and qualify well and then look at the sudden death games and there (could be) three of them.
"We haven't been good at sudden death football so we need to have a special mentality there.
"So, for the quarters, semi-finals and final it needs that special mentality."
The All Blacks have been drawn in Pool A with World Cup nemesis France, Canada, Japan and Tonga, who they open the tournament against on September 9 at Eden Park.
