Sonny Bill Williams acknowledged the All Blacks were good against South Africa – but not good enough yet to win the Rugby World Cup.
A deserved opening win in an outstanding match against South Africa in Yokohama showed New Zealand’s title credentials are as strong as ever but the veteran centre believes there are more gears to go through for the world champions.
They will need them too he insists despite the victorious riposte against their big rivals to those who claimed New Zealand were on the slide after losing top spot in the world rankings ahead of the tournament.
“There were being questions asked because the gap has got so close and I think rightly so,” said Williams.
“There’s four or five teams that can win this tournament and as we saw Fiji gave Australia a run for their money as well. For us, we are real about that. We understand that and we will just go about our business day by day trying to get better. If we do that, generally we play some good footy.
“I’m grateful we got our tournament off to the right start but there’s definitely a lot to work on if we’re going to go all the way.
“Hopefully we get a lot better. We played well in patches but a performance like that isn’t going to win us the tournament. We’ve just got to keep working, keep grinding and keep excited to play this beautiful game that we play.”
If there was grit needed to fend off the Springboks’ second half fightback the beauty was self-evident in the two first half tries scored by George Bridge and Scott Barrett.
The decision to start Beauden Barrett to full-back worked a treat as he provided the assist for Bridge’s try while the more reliable goalkicking of his replacement at No 10, Richie Mo’unga, proved invaluable in closing out the game. New Zealand’s embryonic twin playmaker system looks like it is here to stay at this Rugby World Cup.
“That was the first time we’ve actually played together so it’s only going to get better,” said Barrett, the man of the match.
“I love playing with Rich, he’s a super talent and hopefully for this team we can figure out how we can get the best out of each other. We have a lot more potential in us. It’s exciting.
“From my attitude point of view it doesn’t change whether I’m playing at No 10 or 15. Tactically things change – I have to vary how I do things out there – but as an influencer on the game I want to be as demanding as I can.
“I’m excited about playing well for the All Blacks here at the World Cup.”
For the Springboks, who were a handful but ultimately let down by their penalty count, there is no wriggle room left in Pool A now. However with Italy, Namibia and Canada for company there is no reason to foresee a fall.
“It’s not panic stations, its very calm. We’ve still got the confidence in the group and coaching staff. It’s those small details we’ve got to be better at,” said stand-off Handre Pollard.
“New Zealand are for me arguably the best team in the world, and if you don’t have everything set in place every single time that’s what they are going to do to you.”