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Codie Taylor on New Zealand's sole focus ahead of 'confident' Uruguay
By PA
New Zealand hooker Codie Taylor insists he is not looking past the challenge of Uruguay in their final Rugby World Cup Pool A clash.
The All Blacks have bounced back from their opening-game defeat to France with two dominant wins over Namibia and Italy in the last couple of weeks and will be looking to do the same when they meet Uruguay in Lyon.
New Zealand can qualify for the quarter-finals with a bonus-point victory on Thursday night. Despite their expectations of reaching the next stage, Taylor is adamant they are only focused on one game at a time.
He told a press conference: “I think the great thing about this team and this tournament is that we are focused on each week as it comes and that’s the way it’s been this week. You know, we can’t look past Uruguay.
“We’ve really previewed Uruguay and they’re a really confident team. The way their captain speaks, they have a lot of belief, which is awesome to see.
“We did let ourselves down at times in that (France) game. Since then, we’ve had the two games, we had the bye-week and we really looked at ourselves, what areas we could be better at.”
Uruguay have been much improved in this year’s World Cup. They denied France a bonus-point victory before leading Italy at half-time and claimed their fourth win at a World Cup with victory against Namibia last weekend.
The South American side are all-but out of the competition with inferior points and points difference to their group A rivals, but will be looking to end their tournament on a high on Thursday.
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Latest Comments
> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
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