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ANDREW CORNAGA/PHOTOSPORT
All Blacks captain Sam Cane is tackled by Garry Ringrose of Ireland during their test match at Eden Park last year.
The All Blacks have been overtaken as world rugby’s powerhouse by France and Ireland.
That’s the view of veteran English rugby writer Stuart Barnes, who says New Zealand – and fellow Southern Hemisphere sides Australia, South Africa and Argentina – will be at an enormous disadvantage at this year’s World Cup.
Writing in The Times, Barnes said it was clear after watching the Super Rugby quarterfinals last weekend that the New Zealand and Australian teams “have dropped a long way off their European rivals.”
“It is hard not to be left with the feeling that Europe has an enormous advantage heading into the tenth Rugby World Cup,” Barnes wrote.
The former England first-five said previously Super Rugby held a “gaping chasm” in quality over games played in Europe, while The Rugby Championship series of tests between New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina honed the test games of the four national sides.
But with this year’s tournament reduced to just one round in World Cup year, Barnes said “the dominant rugby nations have a vast amount of catching up to do.”
Breakfast
Scotty Stevenson and Frank Bunce said he would bring something different to the national side and New Zealand Rugby.
Barnes said the Super Rugby sides have dropped a long way off the top European sides like Leinster, La Rochelle and Toulouse, writing that “it is difficult to even dream of the Crusaders competing successfully against the French and Irish elite.”
The 10-test playmaker said “these aren’t the hopeful words of a Northern Hemisphere observer who is fed up with All Black, Australian and South African hegemony at the World Cup.
“I wouldn’t have minded seeing the New Zealand model win a few more competitions to set an exhilarating global example of how to play the game.”
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