Dubai: Rugby World Cup champions New Zealand can continue to dominate despite the retirement of key players, according to former All Blacks winger Eric Rush.
The triple Webb Ellis winners, who became the first side to retain the trophy with 34-17 victory over Australia on Saturday, are now losing the likes of Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Keven Mealamu, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith, taking with them the combined experience of almost 600 caps.
But Rush, who was speaking at the Emirates Airlines Dubai Rugby Sevens Long Lunch on Thursday, said the team would recover from the setback.
“That’s a lot of experience walking out of the team,” said Rush, 50, who scored 25 points in nine appearances for the All Blacks between 1992 and 1996. “But the great thing is the coaches have already started working with the next layer of talent.
“Although they will have bumps in the road, the expectations won’t change. New Zealand won’t be quite as successful as the last four years but by the time the next World Cup comes around, guys who come in will have 50-odd games under their belt.”
In terms of who could replace McCaw, who is the most capped player in rugby history with 148 appearances, Rush said: “I never thought we’d be able to replace Wayne Shelford, the guy was so inspirational, but then Sean Fitzpatrick came along and McCaw.
“Kieran Read is the heir apparent. He holds the same respect in that team as McCaw. They are both humble and don’t talk too much, they just get out there and do their stuff.”
Below that he said: “Sam Cane is there with the young fella Ardie Savea, and he hasn’t got the experience behind him that Cane’s got, but the guy’s a stand-out and before long he’ll be pushing Cane for a place.”
Regarding Carter’s replacement, he added: “Aaron Cruden is the guy to slip into Carter’s position. He’s injured at the moment but the guy is the front runner. Then you’ve got Lima Sopoaga who’s played really well and I’m surprised he didn’t make the World Cup squad, so there’s a little bit of depth there.”
Asked if he thought other sides would now try to take advantage of New Zealand with the All Blacks entering a transitional phase, he replied: “Of course that’s going to happen. Australia are starting to do that now, the final could have gone either way and they were lucky to get past Scotland so the gap [between teams] isn’t that big.
“South Africa are the team, but they are losing guys too. It’s about having the same quality of youngsters coming through and luckily for us Steve Hansen is staying on for another couple of years to groom the youngsters.
“We’ve only got four million people in New Zealand and we are six or seventh in the world in terms of the number of potential rugby players but our kids’ system is second to none.
“There’s good players everywhere, but our system is different and that’s reflective in how we coach our kids to play what’s in front of you, get the ball and have a go at it and learn how to pass under pressure, learn how to cope with that pressure and back your skills.”
