New Zealand arrive as the tournament's lowest-ranked side, but this is no longer a team of part-timers — the squad has matured into a genuinely professional outfit. The belief inside Darren Bazeley's camp is real: they fancy themselves to reach the knockout rounds for the first time in their history. The big question is whether they have enough sharpness up top, with their talisman nursing a difficult year and recent friendlies offering mixed reassurance.