New Zealand – South Africa – ‘The All Blacks have changed their mentality’, 1987 New Zealand world champion captain David Kirk makes them his favorite

David Kirk, All Blacks Never Die…

And they are still there. However, they have just gone through four difficult years, which is a difficult period to live through, for specific reasons…

what are they ?

Covid has disrupted rugby in New Zealand, as well as world rugby and all events associated with our sport. No more tours, no more Super Rugby The All Blacks, who play around fifteen tests a year, found themselves playing six tests in 2020, including four against the same Australians… Super Rugby matches postponed due to border closures New Zealand players have been banned from international matches for more than a year. Because we were in a transitional period, with new players arriving and others retiring, restarting was difficult.

Things seem to have been corrected since then.

Against Ireland in the quarter-finals, we fielded our best team, which has not happened for a long time. At the start of the match, our best players at that moment were on the field! This is essential. Tyrell Lomax, up front, is definitely our best right column. With him, our scrum is much better. Sam Whitlock is still there…even if he can’t play a full game, the 30 minutes he’s on the field, he’s the best. Brody Retallick, after two difficult seasons, is back to his best, and in sixth place, where we had difficulty finding a solid player, Shannon Frizell stands out. With Cane and Savea, they form a very complementary third line. The New Zealand group is once again one of the most competitive in the world.

Will the victory over Ireland go down in history if the All Blacks can win the William Webb Ellis Cup?

Yes. It’s incredible to survive thirty-seven stages of continuous gameplay without making the slightest mistake. But the Irish weren’t playing to destabilize our defence, they just wanted to push us into committing a foul, getting a penalty, and waiting for a missed tackle. The New Zealand team showed discipline and did not make any mistakes. We can be proud of what we have achieved. Until Sam (Whitelock) scratched the ball. There are things we do better than our opponents: pace, continuity of play and creativity. The three tries the Irish scored all started with great inspirations, Beauden Barrett’s over-kick for himself, Ardie Savea’s one-step-before-drop pass, and a dummy pass and Richie Mo’unga’s run. Three innovative attempts… The French XV was another team able to innovate and create amazing stages of play in this World Cup.

Yes, but France has been eliminated…

this is sad. The Springboks’ first three tries were scored without passes. They were very realistic, and opportunistic. The French made a lot of mistakes on high balls. No one was there when he fell. In modern rugby, high balls have become a crucial aspect of the game, as the opposition puts pressure on you to make mistakes.

Ian Foster has never been a bad coach.

Referee Mr. O’Keefe found himself in the midst of criticism. How do you judge the charge against him?

He should have been helping the game develop faster, not accepting the continued slowdown by South Africa. He was not up to par in terms of slowing down balls by the Springboks, and in kicks, throw-ins, and tackles. The Boks are always on the edge, everywhere, in their aggression and attitude. Then, on the counter by Cheslin Kolbe while converting the second French try, it’s not for the referee to judge whether the winger had left sooner… there’s the video referee for that. The TMO should have looked at Kolbe’s situation… And then, as my friend Nicolas Thienpont pointed out to me via SMS with a lot of humour, as quickly as Kolbe gets to Ramos, the South African should immediately score in the 100m. For the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris… he will break the world record!

You love philosophy, you are a great fan of Montaigne, Montesquieu and Rousseau, and you must appreciate the relativity of things… Ian Foster, the All Black coach, who was greatly criticized before the start of the World Cup, today inspires a lot of respect in New Zealand…

(Smiles) Yes… but Foster was never a bad coach… his players were not at the required level! I have always thought, said and written it. Instead of blaming the coach, the players should have taken responsibility. They were capable of playing very good rugby for 80 minutes but they didn’t do it. They played 40 minutes and found that was enough. The problem did not come from their skills or ability to hold the ball in their hands, but rather from their mental strength. They changed their mentality.

Since France was eliminated and everyone is imagining this final between the All Blacks and the South African Springboks, did you think the same thing?

In the last World Cup in Japan, we beat the Springboks in the group stage (23-13), and the Boks won the cup. In the semi-final, the English played perhaps their best game in recent years against the All Blacks. They won (19-7), but they weren’t in the final… I’m not surprised by this final between New Zealand and South Africa. If you had asked me after the first defeat against France if I would watch the Lions in the final, I would have told you no. but…

Do you think the All Blacks will win the World Cup?

We can win it. We must win it. We will win!