Everyone knew going into this Rugby World Cup that the All Blacks are the best team in the world. After the performance they put in against France in Cardiff, it's fair to say they are determined to live up to that billing.
I know they've only won one World Cup in the professional era, and never won one outside of New Zealand itself, but they've been the dominant force for a decade. I actually think Australia's backs are potentially better than the All Blacks', so now the Wallabies have got their pack sorted and firing, it's a close call between those two as to which has the better team. An Australia-New Zealand final is 100% my prediction.
The thing about the Kiwis, as they showed last night, is they don't over-complicate things. The northern hemisphere sides love a disguised pass, a pull-back pass, a clever running line short and wide. Most of the time, the All Blacks just run straight, draw a man and pass the ball. They don't drift much, they just can all run and have power and skill. It's a simple gameplan.
They're so efficient, too. They commit one or two men to the clearout, and those one or two are good enough to smash opponents off the ball, then they have 13 or 14 guys ready to go again -- not like the northern hemisphere sides, who pile into rucks.
The other thing is New Zealand might not have been at their best up until now, but when it matters, they simply don't make mistakes. They were utterly ruthless against France, and basically perfect. I know France are not at their strongest, and Philippe Saint-Andre was long gone as coach even before this tournament, but they're hardly a walkover either. Australia's win over England two weeks ago had been the performance of the tournament -- until New Zealand destroyed France.
South Africa's victory over Wales made it Southern Hemisphere 2-0 Northern Hemisphere on the first day of quarterfinals, but that is only a geographical distinction. In terms of style, I regard the Springboks as a northern hemisphere side. They smash the ball up, they kick it a lot and their chase is efficient.
However, they had Wales under pressure a number of times and then would make a mistake -- a knock on, or a penalty. That just wasn't good enough, and I think New Zealand are a level above them.
It's not yet time for the northern hemisphere to panic, but clearly the New Zealand and Australia sides are much better. The biggest difference? They have players who can smash the ball up, run brilliantly and throw a killer pass. We in the northern hemisphere seem to have to choose someone who can do one of those things, and nothing else. I don't know why, but we just haven't found players who are big and skillful.
Just look at the way the replacement Kiwi prop, Joe Moody, threw a dummy pass, went through a gap and then flicked the ball out of the back of his hand to set up a try for Tawera Kerr-Barlow. That's ridiculous, and we can't compete with that level. The only team that can is Australia.