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Former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains says he fears the rugby World Cup favourites may come unstuck through a lack of real competition in the group stages of the tournament.
Speculation by Scotland coach Frank Hadden about playing a second string side at Murrayfield "is a worry for our coach, Graham Henry," said Mains, who led New Zealand to the World Cup final in 1995 in South Africa.
"A full-strength Scotland would be a great build-up game for the All Blacks but, if every match in the pool turns out to be easy, it would be a real concern," Mains told Edinburgh's Scotsman newspaper.
Hadden sparked concern in New Zealand after hinting he could field a second-string side against the All Blacks when they met in the tournament.
He indicated one of his options was to rest some of his key players for their pool C match against New Zealand in Edinburgh on September 23 so they would be fresh for the likely make-or-break clash with Italy in Saint-Etienne six days later.
"Playing a `B' team (against the All Blacks) would be one of the options," the Scotland coach said.
But Mains said one potential problem for the All Blacks would be coming out of a string of easy games into a tough one.
"You need good, hard warm-up matches in preparation for the challenges that await in the knockout stages, and clearly they are not going to get that," he said.
"It is a difficult situation for Graham to deal with. All you can do is strive for perfection in everything you do in every game.
"But, if you are knocking up 50 or 60 points in the group matches -- which they should do -- it is very hard to find things to correct. A lot of it will be about the players keeping their focus.
"If all goes to plan, New Zealand will face France or Ireland in the quarterfinals. The opposition will throw everything at the All Blacks, and knowing they'll be playing an under-done side will ensure they believe they can win."
Hadden said it was important his players were in peak condition for the match against Italy.
"It is essential we qualify for the quarterfinals," he said.
"While the All Blacks are playing pretty much every seven days, we play Romania, then, five days later, we play New Zealand and, six days later, we play Italy," he said.
"Meanwhile, Italy, who are waiting to play us, have a 10-day break.
It depends on how we go against Portugal and Romania. We won't be making any definitive decisions at the moment, but playing a `B' team (against the All Blacks) would be one of the options.
"Maybe we'll get on a roll and fancy our chances ... but there is absolutely no doubt we have to qualify for the quarterfinals."
You would think that finnally in the World Cup you would see the very best teams the Rugby World has to offer playing each other!