There's a theory doing the rounds, and it's not a bad one, that the All Blacks can't win World Cups on foreign soil.
The All Blacks have tried to win the World Cup offshore five times and bombed each time. There have been two tournaments in New Zealand and who won? The All Blacks.
So the theory is valid and, two years out from the 2015 event, considerable thought is going into how this pattern can be changed.
The All Blacks are determined to make history; the first team to successfully defend the title and the first to win away from New Zealand.
New Zealand's failures offshore are not consistent with the overall trend - Australia won both their titles in the UK; South Africa won one of theirs in France and England triumphed in Australia.
New Zealand in 1987 and 2011 and South Africa in 1995 are the only host nations to triumph.
The All Blacks' overall away record is significantly better than most other countries' but it is comparatively poor against their home record. Since the 2003 World Cup, they have lost 16 tests - 13 away from home. It is a big deal when the All Blacks lose at home; that it has only happened three times in a decade is an amazing achievement.
In World Cups, the ratios are much the same. They have won all 12 World Cup games in New Zealand, compared with 25 victories from 31 World Cup tests on foreign soil. They are 100 per cent at home but 86 per cent away.
The All Blacks, certainly at World Cups, have not been great tourists. Everyone says it is the French that don't travel well, but maybe it is the All Blacks who struggle most away from home comforts and the familiar.
The weather, the food, the truly dire coffee, antagonistic local media - they could all be factors that unsettle the All Blacks when they play at World Cups offshore.
This might seem like small beer, but the unity, cohesion and mental energy of any side is critical - especially at World Cups.
It can't be disputed: the level of comfort individual All Blacks feel playing in New Zealand is a factor in their performance. By extension, it's implicit that they never feel quite the same away from home.
They don't perform as well and this will form a considerable part of the All Blacks' planning which began when they were in London last month and will continue early next year when team manager Darren Shand and head coach Steve Hansen return to the UK to assess potential bases and training facilities.
Already management are wondering how they will best be able to prevent mental burn-out and frustration within the squad when they get to England in 2015.
How can they strike the right balance between giving the players downtime away from the public and media glare and yet keep them connected with the hype of the tournament? How can they keep the players from feeling they are living in each other's pockets? Australia, England and South Africa are possibly better at staying together, unified and content over such long periods.
England in 2007 could have disintegrated after being hammered 36-0 by South Africa in their first match but they got better and tighter as the tournament went on, making it all the way to the final.
The bulk of the All Blacks' tests will be in London and Cardiff in 2015 and it is probable they will look to base themselves, initially at least, somewhere west of London. The IRB hasn't so far offered any bases in central London and management are conscious that spending too long in an isolated venue could see the players become a little stir crazy.
The pressure of World Cups can be intense - as seen at the last tournament when Cory Jane and Israel Dagg infamously felt the need to let off some steam with a big night out only a couple of days before the quarter-final. The ideal formula may be to spend the early part of any test week at the nominated base and travel to the game venue 48 hours before kickoff.
The All Blacks have tried different things at previous tournaments and none has worked. In 1991, they were outsmarted by the Australians in Dublin. The Wallabies spent the week of the semifinal shaking hands with the locals and embracing everything Irish while the All Blacks were said to have, "all the gaiety of grave diggers". The local support was all behind Australia on the day.
In 1999, they had a few days in the South of France to relax before their semifinal. It may have been a valid ploy but, when they collapsed in the final 25 minutes, it felt like the wrong thing to do.
In 2003, the All Blacks spent the better part of a month in Melbourne and the players hated it in the end. Too much time in one place saw them climbing the walls.
- Gregor Paul
