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Wellington - The dropped goal has never been a large part of New Zealand' rugby armory, at best being looked on begrudgingly as a weapon of last resort.
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But the harsh lessons of history have forced the All Blacks to re-evaluate the dropp goal as a tactical weapon and to consider deploying it more regularly at the Rugby World Cup.
Flyhalf Dan Carter has scored a world record 1 250 points in Test matches but his second-half drop goal in New Zealand's 37-17 win over France on Saturday was only the fourth of his international career. In fact, New Zealanders have kicked only 12 dropped goals at Rugby World Cups and only three in the last three tournaments.
Yet, the 1995 and 2003 World Cup finals were won with dropped goals - by flyhalves Jonny Wilkinson for England in 2003 and Joel Stransky for South Africa in 1995 - and New Zealand lost their 2007 quarter-final to France by two points for want of the ability to kick one.
Flyhalf Colin Slade told reporters on Monday that he, Carter and New Zealand's other flyhalf option, scrumhalf Piri Weepu, had been practicing field goals throughout the tournament.
And he hinted that the All Blacks, who once looked on the dropped goal as something unworthy or underhanded, now took a more pragmatic view of its use.
"We've been practicing our goalkicking and our dropped goals a lot," Slade said. "I suppose practicing is one thing and doing it in a pressure situation is another - and it's been a great confidence booster for Dan to be able to put a few over.
"Finals and semi-finals have really gone down to the wire and the track record of that has proven that drop goals can win tournaments.
"We've got to be prepared for that and we're certainly beavering away at it."
The All Blacks watched Sunday night's rain-sodden match between Argentina and Scotland, which the Pumas won with a late try but which had been for the most part a contest of penalties and dropped goals.
Scotland kicked two dropped goals in the second half to seize a 12-6 lead before Argentina won the match with an opportunist try with seven minutes remaining.
The Scots still had the chance to salvage a win when replacement flyhalf Dan Parks lined up a last-minute dropkick. It might have decided the outcome, and sent Scotland into the quarter-finals for the seventh straight time, had Argentina captain Felipe Contepomi not been able to force Parks onto his weaker left foot. His kick slewed wide of the posts.
New Zealand and Argentina may meet in the tournament quarter-finals unless Scotland is able to beat England next Saturday to reclaim second place in Pool B. Slade said New Zealand would expect a close match.
"In some ways (Argentina) play like the French. They can be a little unpredictable and I suppose that can cause problems at times if we can't manage to stick to our gameplan and control them," Slade said. "They've got that element of surprise I suppose and you've got to be on your guard."
