LONDON, United Kingdom, Jun 29 – Dan Carter believes the All Blacks will need to hit the ground running if they want to win the Rugby World Cup this year.
The double Rugby World Cup winner knows a thing or two about winning the tournament and predicts that this will be one of the most hotly contested tournaments ever.
The three-time World Rugby Player of the Year says New Zealand must be on an upward trajectory heading into the World Cup.
He believes that the upcoming Rugby Championship will be pivotal to achieving that, and Ian Foster’s charges need a fast start to 2023 after a few speed bumps in 2022.
“They want to be able to obviously be growing going into the World Cup, but they need to start and make a real statement right from day one, right from the very first match,” Carter told Newshub.
“They don’t have a long prep going into the Cup, so they need to be firing on all cylinders on day one.
“That shortened prep means there will be a lot of hard work, preparation, and time within the culture to make sure they can hit the ground running and just continue to grow from there.”
The All Blacks kick off their Rugby Championship campaign against Argentina next week in Mendoza before returning to New Zealand to host rivals South Africa in Auckland. They complete their tournament campaign with a clash with the Wallabies in Melbourne and a return fixture in Dunedin in the second Bledisloe Cup clash.
Foster’s side then clashes with South Africa in London before the World Cup before entering Pool A, where they face France, Italy, Uruguay and Namibia.
The All Blacks are on what is considered to be the more hotly contested side of the draw, where they will have to face one of South Africa, Ireland or Scotland in the quarter-finals.
Ranked third in the world heading into the World Cup, New Zealand aren’t considered among the favourites to win the tournament, but according to Carter, that doesn’t really matter.
“This is one of the most closely contested World Cups of all time,” Carter said. “There are probably half a dozen teams that could go on to win this World Cup, and there are probably 12 teams that could all beat those top half a dozen teams as well.
“Obviously, the All Blacks won’t go in as favourites, but I don’t think that really matters. Very rarely do the favourites win the Rugby World Cup anyway.
“That’ won’t change any of the planning going into this World Cup.
“They’ll have a really clear direction of how they want to play and grow their game throughout the World Cup and leave all of the external pressures out of the equation and focus on what they need to do as a team.”
Carter, 41, retired after the 2015 Rugby World Cup final winning his second tournament. He scored 1 598 points in 112 appearances for New Zealand.
