Great expectations: All Blacks stay grounded

The All Blacks-Wallabies semifinal was built up as the de facto final,as it pitted the worlds No. 1 and 2 teams together in a clash that was too close to call.

The All Blacks are doing their best to manage the expectations of fellow New Zealanders who consider that the Rugby World Cup final is in the bag. The final against France is on Sunday.

The host nation was on a knife edge all of last week,anxious that the All Blacks World Cup drought might be extended with another semifinal loss to Australia. The All Blacks-Wallabies semifinal was built up as the de facto final,as it pitted the worlds No. 1 and 2 teams together in a clash that was too close to call.

So there was a collective sigh of relief as New Zealand pummeled Australia 20-6 last Sunday. Since then,high anxiety has been succeeded by easy confidence,especially after a sluggish France barely beat a 14-man Wales 9-8 in the first semifinal. The All Blacks also pounded France 37-17 in the pool stage,giving their fans supreme belief that World Cup victory was a given this weekend.

On Tuesday,the national betting agency was offering New Zealand to win the final at NZ$1.10 off a NZ$1 bet,while parlaying France at NZ$6.

Im not a betting man,but we were maybe paying something similar the last time we lost to them at the World Cup, center Conrad Smith said. Smith said the All Blacks,just as they did against Australia,had an element of fear of France,simply because the French sensationally knocked out New Zealand in the 1999 semifinals and 2007 quarterfinals.

Parade plan

Auckland Council and the New Zealand Rugby Union reflected Kiwis growing confidence by quietly planning a victory parade for the All Blacks,the New Zealand Herald reported in Tuesdays edition. The paper said the ticker-tape parade was being set up for next Wednesday or Thursday. That kind of planning has blown up in their faces in the past. Victory parades were also revealed at the latter stages of the 1999 and 2007 World Cups.