All Blacks must deliver or a nation will go into mourning for another four years

Think back to the 1999 World Cup semi-final at Twickenham when, trailing 24-10 early in the second half, France, inspired by Christophe Lamaison and the indomitable flanker Olivier Magne, suddenly roused themselves, as if driven by deep elemental forces, and destroyed a New Zealand side that had seemed destined to win the tournament. "We go into mourning now for four years," said All Blacks legend Grant Fox after the surprise defeat.

Four years ago, the French repeated the trick in the quarter-finals in Paris, beating New Zealand, who were again favourites even though they have never won the World Cup in the fully professional era. After that defeat, in mourning again, the All Blacks embarked on the long journey home muttering about malign fate and vowing to redeem all past disappointments when the World Cup returned to New Zealand in 2011.

The wait is over for them, yet the memories of failure remain deep. "I've been involved in two [World Cups] where we didn't achieve what we were after and the shock is in the back of your mind," All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said.

The All Blacks, bolstered by the Pacific islanders in their ranks, began the tournament commandingly last Friday, as expected (they have never lost in the pool stages). They rolled over Tonga with a performance suggesting that, once again, when they are at their ferocious, free-flowing best, no other country has the game to beat them.

Or, at least, should have the game to beat them were it not that New Zealand at World Cups have become a bit like England at Wembley under Fabio Capello: a fear of failure can suddenly and irrationally take hold of them, causing them to freeze. "The problem is in here," Capello said last week, tapping his head, by way of explanation for England's faltering victory over Wales.

New Zealanders like to define themselves through rugby. No other country - not even the Wales of the 1970s - shares their passion and commitment to the brutal game. This isolated frontier country of only four million people at the bottom of the world needs something more than Sauvignon Blanc and sheep farming to care for and become passionate about.

In nearly all else apart from rugby, New Zealand as a nation is a model of humility and reasonableness. The opposite is true when it comes to rugby: they expect to win, demand to win and when they don't it is as if not just the players wearing the fabled black shirt but the whole nation has failed.

This World Cup has a special significance because of the recent traumas of the Christchurch earthquake and the Pike River mine disaster in which 29 miners died. Along with Eden Park, in Auckland, where the All Blacks have won 82 per cent of their matches, Christchurch on the South Island is one of the two fortresses of New Zealand rugby - but sadly no games will be played in the country's second city this time.

We are used to being disappointed by football and cricket World Cups. Cricket's showpiece is ludicrously protracted, with its multiple mismatches and pseudo contests and bored and weary players. The last football World Cup, in South Africa, offered up very few memorable games and, like its cricketing counterpart, felt bloated and often desultory.

Both of these events suffer for being under the control, respectively, of the ICC and FIFA, discredited organisations both.

The Rugby World Cup is different. Again and again it exceeds expectations, as happened four years ago when South Africa won a tournament that, from the quarter-finals onwards, produced a series of utterly absorbing matches, with many surprise reversals. (In retrospect, it seems hard to believe that an ageing England side who were beaten 36-0 by South Africa in the pool stages ended up reaching the final).

This time out, Martin Johnson's men started poorly, as they invariably do, labouring to defeat an Argentina, who, with their aged pack, retirements and injuries, are much reduced from the resilient side that finished third in 2007, beating the hosts France twice along the way.

In spite of their ponderous start, England should have little problem grinding their way to the knock-out stages, though they will need to start kicking penalties and beat Scotland, as they should, to be sure of avoiding the All Blacks in the quarter-finals (presuming the hosts win their pool, as they must).

That's when the serious business begins - and we will discover whether or not the All Blacks, perennial chokers, are destined to be blue again. Let it all unfurl.

Andy may never win a Slam after latest flop

Andy Murray's quest to win his first Grand Slam title is becoming more forlorn with each passing year. He's emphatically the fourth best tennis player in the world, which would be more than enough for most of us but is it enough for him?

You admire the way he has transformed himself from a lanky, surly adolescent with stamina issues into the superb athlete he is today. You admire his determination and his relentlessness.

But when it matters most, something always seems to be missing from his game, as we saw again in his US Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal, and he can't blame the coaches he so readily discards.
I've long thought that the hard courts of Flushing Meadows would offer Murray his best opportunity of winning that elusive Slam. It didn't happen for him over the weekend and, with Novak Djokovic and Nadal a similar age and so dominant, you begin to wonder now whether it's ever going to happen for Murray at all.

Jason Cowley is editor of the New Statesman