Forget the niceties, this is the real thing

Forget the full-scale charm offensives we’ve witnessed in Tokyo this week.

Coaches and players from the All Blacks and Springboks might have leaned on their elbows and smiled politely for the rows of TV cameras and media types this week but, surely, it has been an elaborate smokescreen.

If it isn’t, these men are wasting their talents. Maybe they should earn their coin in high-stakes card games in the Nevada desert.

It seems difficult to believe they can be so relaxed before their first World Cup pool game at the International Stadium tonight.

The history books don’t lie; no team has won the Webb Ellis Cup, having suffered a defeat in the pool phase.

It’s still possible to win the cup, the loser is likely to finish second in Pool B and advance into the quarterfinal, but as Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus admitted, a defeat can be terrible for a group of ambitious athletes. It can lead to self-doubt, anxiety and, to a degree, a fear of being exposed.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said France had proved in 2011 that a team can still lose in pool play, and make the final. Yet France were unable to beat the All Blacks in the big showdown in Auckland.

Who knows whether losses to the All Blacks and Tonga in the pool games preyed on the minds of the French players – did they really believe they could win at Eden Park?

And then, of course, there are the doubters. The All Blacks, say some critics, aren’t the all-conquering machine that has fronted for previous tournaments.

They have noted they’re no longer at the top of the world rankings (that honour belongs to Ireland), have lost to the Irish twice in the space of 24 months and for only the second time in history were unable to beat the British and Irish Lions in a series when they toured New Zealand in 2017.

Hansen brushed it all aside. ‘‘It’s the same noise that we heard last time, prior to 2015,’’ he said. ‘‘Dan Carter and Richie McCaw were too old. It’s just the norm. You get two types, I reckon.

‘‘You get those who definitely don’t want us to win, because it’s not in their interests, and you have got the group who desperately want us to win.

‘‘They are all nervous. The sooner we can get this game underway we will get rid of all that peripheral noise that is out there, and pretty meaningless noise too, to be fair.’’

The Springboks’ attempts to get inside French referee Jerome Garces’ head has also irked the All Blacks.

Hansen was unimpressed by the way Erasmus and his assistant Mzwandile Stick, in what was clearly a calculated strategy, attempted to get make life difficult for Garces this week.

The pair had stated, on separate occasions, that the officials had formed a habit of favouring the All Blacks in the past.

There’s nothing new in coaches trying to influence the official but the Springboks’ decision to go public not once, but twice, has rankled the All Blacks.

‘‘I don’t agree with what he’s [Erasmus] doing,’’ Hansen said. ‘‘He’s trying to put pressure on the referee, externally. They are under enough pressure already. They don’t need us coaches doing what he’s

‘‘The history books don’t lie; no team has won the Webb Ellis Cup, having suffered a defeat in the pool phase.’’

doing.’’

Although the All Blacks have deflected questions about the way star lock Brodie Retallick was injured by RG Snyman when the two sides drew 16-16 in Wellington on July 27, they won’t have forgotten the incident.

There’s still no guarantee Retallick, who is still recovering from a dislocated shoulder, will play in this World Cup; although he’s with the squad in Japan, and we are told he’s progressing favourably, no definitive date has been given for his comeback.

Everything in the narrative leading up to this fixture suggests the 72,300 fans at International Stadium in Yokohama will be treated to a game that could be worthy of a final.

For the All Blacks, it will be a culmination of four years hard work.

Hansen has rewarded form by selecting rookie wings George Bridge and Sevu Reece, and has stuck with the concept of employing Ardie Savea in the unfamiliar blindside flanker job. This game will be a true test of how the revamped back row copes under extreme pressure, against the much bigger Springboks loose forwards.

Is it a gamble to play the Boks without a specialist No 6? We shall soon know.

All will be revealed in Yokohama. Game on.