Dan's admissions damage AB cup credibility

Fairfax Media

ON THE BALL: Dan Carter has pin-pointed some World Cup shortcomings in the 2007 side.

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Duncan Johnstone

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Superstar Daniel Carter has done neither himself, his team nor his under-siege coach Graham Henry any favours with his alarming admissions that some All Blacks struggle to cope with World Cup pressures and that this year's side lacked an alternate game plan to counter France.

The first five-eighths has told British media that the burden of trying to break New Zealand's 20-year World Cup bogey is a burden some players try to avoid by taking their games to Europe.

He also admitted the All Blacks struggled to adjust their attacking game when Luke McAlister was sin-binned against France and suffered through an inappropriate lack of dropgoal attempts in the closing stages of the 18-20 quarter-final loss.

Carter should be applauded for his honesty but perhaps inadvertently he has pin-pointed some glaring problems in the All Blacks' preparations for the game's biggest tournament.

A simple history lesson should have prepared the All Blacks for the fact they were carrying the weight of a rugby-mad nation with them to Europe for this year's World Cup.

There is off-field pressure with every All Blacks side. It is why they remain New Zealand's No 1 sports team.

There is additional pressure in trying to repeat their only cup success in 1987.

And those public pressures aren't unrealistic when the fans are placing them on the world's No 1 ranked side heading into the tournament.

They go with the job that is being an All Black in the professional era.

It's how they cope with those pressures that matters most and it seems, according to Carter, some players aren't coping very well.

Whose fault is that? Look to the top. But basically, toughen up guys, isn't the World Cup what it's all about? 

The timing of these revelations won't have helped Henry who has confirmed his desire to continue coaching the All Blacks.

These are the type of shortcomings he will have to explain to his bosses if he wants to hold on to his job.

Carter excused himself from learning any lessons from a similar loss in the 2003 World Cup semifinal in Australia because he was not playing that fateful night in Sydney.

Presumably he saw the hurt in the dressing room after the match and the lingering pain that followed. But it didn't appear to have sunk in.

The lack of ability to react to on-field situations was perhaps a more worrying revelation. Tri-Nations losses in Rustenburg and Melbourne over the past year or so were echoed in Cardiff but at a far greater cost.

We were assured by management and players that those earlier losses had been good for the side in terms of learning how to react to counter things – a reality check needed amidst the plain-sailing of some very good rugby from the team.

Yet with a wealth of possession the All Blacks failed to make the necessary adjustments to get past a French side they had completely dominated for the previous four years.

Their mental fragility matched their World Cup predecessors when every expense and wish had been granted to make them allegedly New Zealand's best prepared cup side.

But amidst all the complications that came with reconditioning, rotation and endless training, it seems some simple basics may have been overlooked.

Perhaps even more alarming is that unlike Carter, the men responsible for those oversights have failed to acknowledge any failings in their systems.

Carter made his statements while he was in London promoting his lucrative business deals that go alongside his lucrative rugby salary.

He knows he can make even more money by taking his game to the European market.

But he also realises that will come at the expense of the black jersey he so cherishes.

Sounds like a bit of pressure to go with the decision-making again.

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