By PAUL REES

NEW ZEALAND
Coach: Ian Foster
Captain: Sam Cane
This year’s World Cup is unusual in a number of respects, not least that New Zealand do not go into it at the head of the world rankings and they are not the favourites.
They are also coming off the back of a record defeat, 35-7 against a pumped up South Africa at Twickenham, and their opening match is against the hosts France at the Stade de France, a ground where they conceded 40 points on their last visit in the autumn of 2021.
The notion of the All Blacks being vulnerable is foreign. This is a team which since the start of ...