Bring on the All Blacks - but not yet

The World Cup will be England's real test

England could well beat the best in the world at the moment but as BBC Sport's Alastair Hignell explains, the accolade means nothing between World Cups.

The froth on the first celebratory pint had barely touched my lips when the mobile phone rang.

"Radio New Zealand Breakfast Show here", came a voice "can you spare a few minutes to talk about England?"

Never a problem, especially after such a stunning victory over a France team who, I couldn't help mentioning, had devastated the All Blacks twice in the last two seasons.

"Just how good are England?" my Kiwi questioner wanted to know.

He may have been less keen on the answer: this England team is brilliant and can only get better.

It ran in six superlative tries against France while only hitting the heights for ten minutes at the beginning of the match and for forty minutes at the end.

God help the opposition if it ever gets it right for the full match.

Pointless contest

"So wouldn't it be great for England to take on the All Blacks?" pursued my interrogator, with visions of a sell-out showdown at Auckland's Eden Park.

Not particularly. For a start, there is no room in a rugby calendar that was full to overflowing even before the foot-and-mouth crisis intervened.

The outbreak of the disease has dictated that three more internationals should be squeezed in next autumn.

For a second, it would prove next to nothing.

England could very well beat the All Blacks and then, with the scalps of the Australians and the South Africans under their belts, call themselves the best in the world.

That accolade is empty between World Cups, as the All Blacks themselves discovered in the build-up to both the 1991 and 1995 tournaments.

Their form, in the year or so leading up to both competitions, was stunning. They won neither.

They were favourites too in 1999.

No-one, least of all Radio New Zealand's breakfast audience after my Saturday interview, will forget how the All Blacks were ambushed by France at Twickenham.

Team to fear

England don't need to prove they are the best team in the world at the moment.

They need to carry all before them in 2003 when the next World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand.

After the heroics of this season they are the team to fear and it is in their interests to allow that fear to grow.

Mystery helps, exposure doesn't.

England should provide the majority of the Lions side in Australia this summer.

But that does not mean the Wallabies won't be able to get a true measure of perhaps the strongest pretenders to their world title.

They, and the South Africans, England's other opponents next autumn, will however be in a position to gain valuable information and maybe strike a psychological blow or two.

The All Blacks will get their turn in the autumn of 2002.

All three fixtures will be at Twickenham where England will be highly fancied to crank up their aura of invincibility.

England can wait. The other nations can do the worrying.

They can thrash out this summer's Tri-Series with an unfamiliar but niggling thought at the back of their minds.

It's a thought usually reserved for the Six Nation's Championship teams: even if they win it, are they going to be good enough?

England are on top of the world at the moment and can enjoy the view.

Of course I was too polite to say so on Radio New Zealand but the Kiwis, for the moment, can bring a new set of muscles into play- those for looking up.