All Blacks on the verge of greatness in amazing year

BRISBANE: The world champion All Blacks will be knocking on the door of greatness if they can beat Australia to record a 17th successive test victory today.

For New Zealand skipper Richie McCaw, however, it is simply a case of maintaining the standards set by the men who have worn the famous black jersey before him.

If New Zealand prevail at Lang Park today, and few doubt they will, they would match the record for successive test wins by top tier nations held jointly by the All Blacks of the late 1960s and the South Africa team of 1997-98. The world record stands at 18 matches and is held by Lithuania but that mark is undermined by the fact that the Baltic nation did not face a single team that had played in a World Cup when they went unbeaten from 2006 and 2010.

McCaw may be following in a long tradition of great All Black players but he is very much a modern athlete and so it was no surprise that when quizzed about the record yesterday, he preferred to talk about the process of winning.

“That’s a by product of getting our preparation right this week and then performing right tomorrow night,” the 31-year-old flanker told reporters. “There’s a huge desire to play better, and if we do that job right, well then, those things take care of themselves.

That performance was a mightily impressive 32-16 mauling of the Springboks in Johannesburg, a 16th victory in little more than 13 months since they last tasted defeat at the hands of Australia at Lang Park in August 2011.

The All Blacks are overwhelming favourites, having won all their six matches in this year’s Rugby Championship against South Africa, Australia and Argentina and going unbeaten in last year’s World Cup.

One other incentive for the All Blacks today is to fittingly mark the 100th test appearance of hooker Keven Mealamu, the third New Zealander to reach the milestone after McCaw and Mils Muliaina. — Reuters