The whisky was on Sam Whitelock in the All Blacks changing room following their demolition of Italy yesterday but the record-breaker was back training early the morning after as fellow veteran Dane Coles delivered a reminder that his side had done nothing of significance yet.
Coles, 36 and like 34-year-old Whitelock in his final campaign with the All Blacks, said the basis for the ruthless 96-17 thrashing of the Azzurri in Lyon came via a hugely beneficial fortnight of training and that the eye-catching win was just a “step in the right direction”.
After a bye week meant the All Blacks’ profile has been as low as it’s ever been at a World Cup, they put 14 tries on an Italian side that effectively conceded defeat halfway through the first half.
It has the world – and much of New Zealand – talking about them again but as ever it was Coles who handed out a reality check.
“We had two weeks to prepare for this game, and I’m not getting carried away, mate,” Coles told reporters.
“We can be pretty proud of the way we stuck at it. We were disciplined and did the simple things really well. But we’ve just got to keep our feet on the ground and get stuck into Uruguay next week.
“It’s always good to play with a bit of a free spirit and have a run, have a jam and play what we see. You can always take a lot of confidence out of that. There will be a bit of a spring in the step with the lads but this has been two weeks of preparation. We put a lot of hard work in.”
The All Blacks play Uruguay in their final pool game at the same Parc Olympique Lyonnais venue on Friday morning.
A victory over the No.17-ranked team in the world will put the All Blacks into a quarter-final – probably against Ireland, but potentially South Africa or even Scotland if there are a few upsets over the next few weeks.
It was Coles who revealed that there was a post-match presentation involving whisky for Whitelock on the occasion of his 149th Test, a record for the All Blacks, but added the drinks weren’t exactly flowing.
“We did a special presentation in the sheds with him. I actually had a whisky. I’m not a big spirit drinker, I don’t really drink, but I said, ‘Mate, I’ll have a drink with you’.
“We just sat down with a few of the lads and tried to finish these whiskies. It was good. He’s a good man and we’re stoked for him.
“He was in the gym this morning on the watty [watt bike] and straight back in.”
Whitelock beat Richie McCaw’s former record when entering the match off the reserves bench – a place he may find himself again for the quarter-final on October 15 due to the irresistible form of Brodie Retallick and Scott Barrett.
Another who entered the game late on was Sam Cane, the loose forward playing his first match at this World Cup due to a back injury. He will almost certainly start against Uruguay and reclaim the No.7 jersey from Dalton Papali’i and captaincy from Ardie Savea for the knockout rounds.
“The night before we were watching the Samoa game and I just thought ‘Man, I can’t wait to get out there’,” Cane said.
“The excitement levels were a wee bit higher than normal. Nothing like having a few games off to make you appreciate how good it is out there.
“To come through unscathed is a bonus as well.”
Cane said he was frustrated at having to miss the opening defeat to France in Paris and repeated Coles’s mantra about constant improvement as they build for what will be a monumental knockout match.
“There will absolutely be areas where we will pat ourselves on the back and we executed things well, but knowing our coaches, they will be looking through things with a fine-tooth comb and highlight things that we may have done or probably won’t get away with against better teams.
“I don’t really see this team right now getting ahead of ourselves based off one performance. It wasn’t very long ago we put in one against France that wasn’t quite good enough.
“I feel like we’re building nicely, we’re just excited that it’s only six days until we get another crack.”
He said he missed out on the whisky.
“By the time I had finished chatting with the people I was with, I turned around and Sammy had ducked off too. So that gave me an excuse not to have one. They were whisky on the rocks, it’s not really my thing.”
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