Two Down, One to Go

The All Blacks have completed the final leg of their World Cup build-up by retaining both the Bledisloe and TriNations trophies, with a 26–12 defeat of the Wallabies at Eden Park on Saturday. “It’s great playing in these real pressure games where everything’s riding on the line,” said star first five-eighth Daniel Carter, who kicked seven from seven penalties in the match. “I love these occasions and like to lift for these games especially [but] we can’t sit back and be happy with how we’re playing.” The All Blacks remain odds-on favourites to win the World Cup, a feat they haven’t achieved in 20 years despite being consistently ranked the world’s number one side. All Black legend Zinzan Brooke sees the task at hand as difficult but doable. “I am a lot more comfortable with the squad New Zealand are taking to this World Cup than the last one,” he wrote in what will be a regular online column for the BBC. “It has better players, better organisation, a good chemistry within the team, and they have been performing for the last two or three years.” The final 30-man All Black World Cup squad will be named on August 14.