The Albany Gazette - All Blacks aim to correct double blip

The All Blacks lost their opening World Cup match 27-13 to hosts France last week, a defeat that followed a record 35-7 loss to South Africa in their final warm-up match at Twickenham.

The defeat to France was the first time the All Blacks had ever lost a World Cup pool match.

"We realise that the last two results have not gone the way we wanted," said assistant coach Scott McLeod.

The Pool A game against Namibia, the former All Black back added, was "a Test match, first and foremost", noting that when the two sides played at the last World Cup in Japan four years ago, it was 24-9 at half-time -- before New Zealand ran out 71-9 winners.

McLeod expected the Namibians, with many coming from farming backgrounds, to be "very physical and direct... so we've prepared for that".

All Black centre Anton Lienert-Brown added that relocating back to their team base in Lyon and then coming to the smaller southwestern city of Toulouse had been a nice change after the drama surrounding the opening fixture at the Stade de France.

"Last Friday was disappointing for us so it was good to go back to Lyon, have a good week there, and then come to Toulouse," he said.

"Losing to France on Friday makes it tough to finish top" of the pool, he added. "We'll take it one week at a time to get over the next three games.

"The last couple of games have been disappointing for us. We've got to make shifts in the game and get better."

The All Blacks and Namibia have played each other twice before, with both fixtures taking place at the Rugby World Cup: New Zealand also ran out 58-14 winners in 2015.

Namibia's assistant coach Barend Pieterse said it had been a short turnaround for the African team from their opening 52-8 defeat by Italy.

"Unfortunately this is the position we’re in," he said. "We actually had a very good week after the Italy match and I feel very confident that all the systems are in place."

Saying that, Pieterse added he had no doubts about the dangers the All Blacks posed.

"In the New Zealand team, pretty much everyone is a threat, especially the team they chose, it’s a very good team," he said.

"We can just stick to what we trained into our systems and into our process. We have to handle whatever they throw at us, in the set-piece or in general play.

"We know they’re a team that would like to play fast and we must be able to handle that."

Samuel Whitelock will make his 148th Test appearance for New Zealand, equalling Richie McCaw as the most-capped player in the team’s history.

Only Alun Wyn Jones of Wales, with 171, has made more international appearances than Whitelock and McCaw.

(O.Joost--BBZ)