All Blacks are wary of wounded English pride

McCaw, the best open-side flanker in world rugby, is desperate to become only the third All Blacks captain to lead the team to a clean sweep of victories over Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England.

England's record 42-6 defeat to South Africa, allied to the earlier defeat by Australia, suggests it will be an easy finale to New Zealand's short tour. But McCaw disagrees and uses the triumph of his country's rugby league team over Australia in the World Cup Final last weekend to emphasise his point.

McCaw, 27, said: "England's defeat by South Africa doesn't mean they can be written off in this next game. We were heavily beaten by Australia in the Tri-Nations and turned it around after everyone had endured a horrible week.

"We have to be careful because England will be hurting and they will want to show they are not as bad as the scoreline says.

"The rugby league team are a good example. An Australia victory was supposed to be a forgone conclusion and our guys won. Sport would be pretty boring if you knew the result every time you turned up for a big game."

Turning to why Martin Johnson's new-look England are struggling, McCaw added: "I suppose you could argue that England may be more vulnerable when the pressure comes because they don't have the experienced guys like Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back in the team but they are all pretty talented players and have performed for their clubs.

"The key thing for us is to deny them time and force mistakes. You only gain experience at this level by going through these challenges. I just hope we deliver the performance we need."

McCaw is also hoping the All Blacks Haka can be performed without any further controversy. Wales accepted the challenge by standing their ground and staring out their opponents for more than a minute after the All Blacks had completed their routine and it took the referee to break up the stand-off.

"I do get a bit bored with all the fuss," said McCaw. "Everyone has their own opinion and we enjoy doing what is a pretty unique thing in sport.

"We are lucky to have the Haka and some teams face up to it while others do their own thing. I thought what Wales did was great, although there may not be anything new left to do.

"To be honest, it's what happens when the match kicks off that's really important. Maybe some teams make too much of what they should be doing in response.

"Plenty of All Blacks teams have tried to win all four Tests and to give ourselves this opportunity is really exciting. Our guys are playing five Tests in a row, which is a huge challenge, but we have this chance to win the slam."

England will name their team today, with New Zealand-born Riki Flutey desperate to overcome a hamstring injury to face his fellow Kiwis while Simon Shaw looks certain to replace the injured Tom Palmer at lock.

* The All Blacks have officially opened adidas's adiZone in Greenwich and players will appear at the adidas Sports Performance store at 415-419 Oxford Street on Thursday from 3pm. Call 0870 2404204.