All Blacks by far the best 31 says Sean Fitzpatrick

England have no world-class players according to All Black legend Sean Fitzpatrick, who reckons New Zealand’s superior strength-in-depth can ensure they become the first side to defend the World Cup.
While the 1987 World Cup-winning hooker rates England as one of the sides capable of reaching the final, Fitzpatrick insists not one of their players would feature in a World XV were such a side selected today.
He told The Rugby Paper: “I don’t think England have any world-class players at the moment in terms of getting into a World XV. George Ford is a very good player at 10, but I don’t think he’s at that level yet. England are one of my teams, along with Ireland, Australia and France, who could go all the way and they have good depth, but they haven’t got those same world-class players the New Zealanders have right now.
“Depth will be the biggest challenge to winning this World Cup, second to none, and I think the All Blacks have the best 31 throughout the positions.
“Any of them could be selected and the All Blacks wouldn’t lose too much, but I don’t think you can say that about any other team.
“In the front row, Tony Woodcock, Owen Franks and Keven Mealamu are under huge pressure from Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina and Dane Coles.
“Ma’a Nonu is in the form of his life, but Sonny Bill Williams comes on against Argentina and was arguably their player of the day.
“Beauden Barrett, above, comes on at 15 and is almost like a super-sub, so players are under pressure and that’s exactly what Steve Hansen wants.
“Am I confident New Zealand will win the World Cup? No, because I think this tournament will be the hardest one to win ever. They could get beaten in the knock-out stages, but in terms of depth they are ready.”
Fitzpatrick, the deputy chairman of the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation which is seeking to inspire the next generation of young rugby players, does not fear New Zealand bombing as they did at France 2007.
Then, the All Blacks were undercooked heading into their quarter-final match against the hosts and were shot down 20-18.
Fitzpatrick said: “That’s not going to happen again. They know it’s likely to be another three weeks before a major game but they’ve prepared for that and will be doing a lot of loading up on the training field.
“They’ve played a lot of Test rugby over the last four years and they’ve got 31 guys who can all start. It’s not like 2007 where they had about 21 top-class guys and got the preparation wrong, this time it’s all spot on.”
New Zealand’s squad is ageing, but Fitzpatrick counters: “In 1991 about 11 of us had won the World Cup and in the back of your mind you know you’ve got a winner’s medal so maybe the hunger is not quite the same.
“But this team is different and guys like Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith, Mealamu, Dan Carter and Woodcock are as desperate to win now as they were four years ago.
“The way Richie and Conrad played last week against Argentina, they’re not bad for old boys. Winning back-to-back is a huge motivation for them.”
NEALE HARVEY