All Blacks back bench warmers to keep them hot

It took the second-half injection of Sonny Bill Williams to get the All Blacks firing against Argentina and that, says centre Conrad Smith, shows why their potent bench is so crucial.

New Zealand rate their player depth as a key reason why they should emerge from the relatively soft Pool C as a battle-hardened unit heading into the knockout stages of the World Cup.

While most of the leading sides at the World Cup would relish having a Williams, Beauden Barrett, Sam Cane or Wyatt Crockett in their run-on side, they cannot crack the All Blacks starting line up.

But when they were unleashed in the second half against Argentina they turned the game as the All Blacks recovered from a 16-12 deficit to produce a 26-12 victory against Argentina.
"The impact off the bench can sway games," veteran midfielder Smith said referring to the energy lift for the All Blacks when the replacements took the field.

"You can be under the pump and feeling like the game's not going your way and a couple of guys bring a bit more energy, bring a different way of looking at something ... and swing it back in your favour."

Williams was able to unlock the Argentina defence which Ma'a Nonu before him had been unable to do.

He had the Pumas second-guessing his moves which opened more spaces for Barrett.

Crockett added valuable power to the tight forwards while openside flanker Cane scored the All Blacks second try to put the result beyond doubt.

With their toughest pool opposition disposed of -- although Japan's toppling of South Africa showed nothing is certain -- the All Blacks should have an untroubled run against Namibia, Georgia and Tonga before the quarter-finals.
In Pool A, England, Australia and Wales are fighting for the two qualifying spots.

Pool B is more congested following Japan's heroics with the 'Brave Blossoms' now joining the Springboks, Scotland and Samoa in a four-way contest.

Critics believe the qualifiers from these pools will be better prepared for the knockout stages than New Zealand, Argentina, Ireland and France, the other likely quarter-finalists.

But, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen dismisses that notion backing his player depth to provide physical training sessions that will ensure his first XV are well prepared.

"The guys that have got the 'pool of death' (Pool A) for example, if they go all the way they'll have to play some big games week after week after week and there's disadvantages in that as well," he said.
"It's swings and roundabouts. It might mean we're fresher. We've just got to make sure we're not underprepared when we get there.

"We will use use the quality of the people we have in the squad to train against which is one of the big advantages we've got."

Hansen's World Cup master plan is to give all his players a start in the first two games with the exception of Waisake Naholo who is scheduled to make his first appearance in game three against Georgia after recovering from injury.

There will be no rotation after that with the best available squad starting every other match.

Hansen added he is expecting bruising confrontations with Georgia and Tonga which will further sharpen up his forwards.

"Watching Georgia hoe into (Tonga) was pretty encouraging from a physical point of view. They're massive men," he said. "Tonga will be physical. Having said that there's not a lot we can do between now and Namibia we'll only train once and it'll be more like a light run.

"The rest of the time there's things we can do with an eight-day turnaround (before Georgia). We'll have an extra training day that week and it'll probably be pretty physical I'd imagine and get ourselves right that way."

Source: AFP