Tri-Nations
NZ on 'verge of greatness'
2010-07-28 09:05
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Melbourne - New Zealand are the litmus test for teams with World Cup ambitions and have assembled a side that stands on the cusp of greatness, former Australia coach Rod Macqueen said on Wednesday.
Macqueen, who led the Wallabies to their second World Cup triumph in Wales in 1999, said the All Blacks possessed the hallmarks of the Sean Fitzpatrick-captained sides of the 1990s.
"I suspect that it's a side at the moment that's probably on the verge of greatness and looking back at the last decade, probably getting back to the Fitzpatrick-type days -- that kind of team that's quite measured and doing very well," Macqueen told reporters.
"(New Zealand's) Achilles heel in the past has been not having a plan B, when things start to go wrong, they continue to go wrong.
"But we're seeing instances now within the New Zealand side that they're making decisions themselves within the team and they seem fairly confident and when things start to go wrong they come back pretty quickly."
The top-ranked All Blacks were second to South Africa in the Tri-Nations last year, but routed the champions in their opening two home matches with an ominous blend of pace and power. They face the Wallabies at Melbourne's Docklands stadium on Saturday.
Much of the All Blacks' quality could be put down to the captaincy of flanker Richie McCaw, Macqueen said, who had anchored the playing group over a period of years.
"(McCaw's) been a nice steadying influence in there over a period of time and when you look at some of the down-times New Zealand had, they were chopping and changing the captaincies and so on.
"You've got a fairly stable lot there now. The coaching staff hasn't changed a lot for quite a while and the captaincy and leaders within the group (haven't changed), and it's come together quite nicely."
Macqueen was less bullish about Australia's World Cup prospects, saying the young side had hard work to do and needed to take notes from their match on Saturday.
"I think they'll know a lot better after this match. I think this is going to answer a lot of questions," Macqueen said.