All Black legend Sean Fitzpatrick thinks Scotland have joined England and Ireland to become the most significant threats to the reigning champion New Zealand at the Rugby World Cup in 2019.
The former New Zealand captain, capped 92 times in the famous All Black shirt said that Scotland’s speedy advance under Gregor Townsend had impressed him to the extent that they were live contenders in Japan in two years’ time.
Fitzpatrick was in St Andrews for the announcement of ISPS Handa, the Japanese sporting foundation as the first patron of Sport at the Service of Humanity, a new charitable movement launched by Pope Francis last year aimed at promoting the positive value of all faiths and sports.
The 53-year-old rugby legend was present in his capacity as chairman of the Laureus Foundation, a worldwide charity that has raised millions for sporting causes.
“I was asked before the Autumn Internationals what I thought were the major threat to the All Blacks for the World Cup in 2019, and I said it would come from the North, but I thought Ireland and England would be the chief ones,” said Fitzpatrick.
“I didn’t really expect Scotland to come on like they did, they played superbly and it was a great test match at Murrayfield two weeks ago.
“They played well against the All Blacks but the big challenge for them was whether they could play well the next week, properly kick on, and they did against Australia. It shows they’re definitely going in the right direction and they have a real attitude about them.
“What we see is the good coaches are not surprisingly producing the best teams. Gregor took over a very good team from Vern Cotter, but I think he’s lifted the level further in terms of their commitment, just the clear enthusiasm the team have to play the game.
“We saw that against Samoa, they scored a lot of tries but also leaked a lot of tries, and defence is mostly an attitude thing. But they’ve sorted that out now.”
Fitzpatrick was also impressed that the Scots played so well with so many of their better known players out injured.
“A lot of the Scots players I’d never heard of,” he admitted. “That’s the key I suppose. We talk a lot at the moment about being mid-cycle, with the World Cup two years away, so now’s the time to be growing the squad.
“England’s has to do that through injuries and the All Blacks have done the same really, we used 55 players this year which is a huge number for us.”
It all makes for a potentially thrilling Six Nations Championship, he agrees.
“I think Ireland and England are still favourites, but it’s going to be one of the most competitive championships for many years.” He said. “Wales look a little off the pace right now but they always seem to step it up a bit come the spring.
“England, I suppose with home games against Ireland and Wales, are the favourites. When they come to Murrayfield will certainly be interesting!
“But there’s a real problem with the English game decimated by injuries, at least at club level. I’m on the board at Harlequins and we’re down to our 7th choice half-back, it’s just ridiculous.
“The law changes have put the advantage back in the hands of the attacking team but it’s made for more collisions. We’re looking at how we train; something like Stuart Hogg getting injured in the warm-up on Saturday at Murrayfield, that just shouldn’t happen.”
Fitzpatrick thinks the law changes at the breakdown caught his All Blacks a little off guard when they came to the Northern Hemisphere this month, he’s still a proud and avid follower of the team he once led, and he thinks any suggestion they’re on a downslope at present is wishful thinking from their rivals.
“I think the All Blacks are in pretty good shape,” he continued. “The last 12 months they’ve lost three games which is pretty unusual for us.
“But I think they’ll be pretty happy in terms of the calibre of player that wasn’t involved in the autumn and during the Rugby Championship. We had two young props who have now had real game time, Damien McKenzie’s come in and impressed, Codie Taylor’s played a lot of rugby at hooker this year.
“Beauden Barrett won World Player of the Year and probably didn’t play as well as he did last year. But if you had to select one player, I still think he was still ahead.
“Stuart Hogg is a fine player and Owen Farrell had an outstanding year, he’s an influential player. But if you were honest and knocking down any bias and were looking for one player who had been the best, you’d probably pick Beauden Barrett.”
France World Cup star Lilian Thuram, South Africa’s 1995 World Cup captain Francois Pienaar and European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley were among the others attending yesterday’s ceremony hosted by the University of St Andrews.