All Black legend’s World Cup advice to the Wallabies? Embrace your 2023 disaster

With the 2027 Rugby World Cup now less than a year away, you won’t find too many people in Australian rugby keen to rake over the coals of the bin fire that was the 2023 campaign.

Most are happy to leave those dark days firmly in the past.

But according to All Blacks legend Dan Carter – owner of two Rugby World Cup winner’s medals – that would be a mistake.

Indeed, as the Wallabies prepare to for a World Cup on home soil, Carter said embracing the lessons of failure was one of two key elements that helped the All Blacks break through and win at home in the 2011 World Cup.

The first was figuring out how to turn home support into a positive force, and not a source of pressure. The second was combining belief about the future with an understanding of where you’ve faltered in the past.

“Confidence and belief are similar things, and you’ve just got to embrace the challenge, but then to be able to look around the room and eyeball your teammates and actually genuinely believe you can beat anyone in the world – and they [the Wallabies] have got the players to be able to do that,” Carter said.

“And then also just take the lessons. There’s enough players in that squad that have gone through the hard times as well, and as long as you’re learning from those challenging moments, it can often make you stronger. So, 2023, you shouldn’t just sort of brush that off; you should actually learn what went wrong from the players that were there.”

The All Blacks’ version was the 2007 World Cup. They went in as raging favourites, having lost only five of 43 games in the four years prior. But for the third straight tournament, they crashed out in the playoffs, this time to France in the quarter-finals.

“Something we never did in the All Blacks was look back at previous World Cups; we’d just kind of focus on a new cycle,” Carter said.

“It wasn’t until we had our worst ever Rugby World Cup in history in 2007 that we actually sat back and learned what went wrong with that tournament, and we managed to turn things around and be successful after that [in 2011 and 2015].

“So yes, you want to be looking forward and playing with real confidence and belief, but you also want to learn from the past as well to make sure you’re not making similar mistakes.”

Two legends of those All Blacks sides – Carter and Richie McCaw – were in Sydney this week with Wallabies great George Gregan, as part of their work with the Global Rugby Players Foundation.

With 12 Rugby World Cup tournaments between them – four each – and a combined five William Webb Ellis Cup wins, what that iconic trio doesn’t know about World Cup success could fit on a postcard.

But one of those things, it seems, is sizing up the current contenders and predicting with confidence who will win the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

“The top half a dozen teams, they’ve all got the ability to beat each other; when you get to World Cup time, those margins become even smaller,” McCaw said.

Carter added: “What I love about the last few World Cups is it’s still anyone’s tournament. Very rarely is it the form side a year out that goes on to win it, but I guess it’s hard to go past South Africa right now. They’ve just continued to grow and evolve since the last World Cup.”

Gregan also pointed to South Africa, but no sooner had the Boks confirmed their favouritism by beating the All Blacks 3-1 in their recent Test series, the Wallabies threw a spanner in the works by upsetting the world’s top-ranked side in Perth last week. The Wallabies will also have a unique advantage next year, Carter believes.

“You can’t underestimate the power of having a World Cup at home,” Carter said. “It can do one of two things: it can add a little bit extra pressure, but if there’s anywhere in the world you’d want to play a World Cup, you’d want it in your own backyard. And you saw what that did to the team in 2003.

“They grew another leg. So it’s an amazing opportunity for the current group of Wallaby players.“

McCaw said the pressure of a home World Cup can be a double-edged sword, and cited England’s pre-finals exit in 2015.

“It can be helpful, definitely, but it can also be a burden,” he said. “There’s a bit of pressure because everyone’s there, and it’s like living in a fishbowl. We used it to our advantage. You have got to make sure you approach it the right way.”

Carter laughs when asked who the Wallabies’ No.10 should be, after last year saying he’d opt for Noah Lolesio. The Japan-based playmaker hasn’t been one of the four picked this year.

“I was hoping you weren’t going to ask me that question because your guess is as good as mine, to be honest,” Carter said. “That’s probably a piece of the puzzle that they’ll be trying to solve in the next 12 months, but it’s still anyone’s race to claim that spot.”

Gregan said the Wallabies had bounced back from a flat spring tour and turned a corner in the Nations Championship games in July, with strong starts and attacking intent.

“And with Kissy [coach Les Kiss], it’s even gone to another level,” Gregan said.

“Winning becomes a bit of a good habit, and vice versa, losing becomes a bit of a bad habit. So it’s great to keep that cycle and break the other one. You can see there’s a really nice energy within this group, they’re playing for each other.”

The legendary trio were talking at a Global Rugby Players Foundation charity golf day in Sydney. The Foundation is chaired by Gregan and was founded in 2024 by a group of stars like McCaw, Carter, Jonny Wilkinson and Thierry Dusautoir, and also includes ex-Aussie sevens stars Alicia Lucas and Sharni Williams.

The charity’s purpose is to help provide professional rugby players with resources, skills and support for the often difficult transition into life after rugby. “It leaves a hole and it takes a while to get your head around that,” McCaw said.

Gregan said: “It sounds really simple, but often – and you hear about this a lot in the military as well – there’s a real loss of purpose. So we’re just trying to work with players, and provide programs and support that enables them to leave the game in a way which is positive.”