New Zealand’s hopes of a famous hat trick of Rugby World Cup wins were dashed in 2019 when an imperious England swept them aside with a 19-7 win in the semi-finals.
Four years on, and the All Blacks have stooped to fourth in the world rankings, lowly by their own high expectations, and suffered a demoralising 35-7 thrashing at the hands of defending champions South Africa in a pre-World Cup warm-up at Twickenham.
