A good win is what we need

Well, it's finally time to get into the action of the Rugby World Cup

I don't think New Zealand will be holding their breath over this game against Italy.

They will go into the game confident but at the same time they can't afford to be over-confident.

Above all else they need to have a good win because the key to their success is getting on a roll early.

Basically they need to start where they left off against Australia in Auckland and then continue to build all the way through to the quarters, semis and finals.

I think they need to tear the heart out of the Italians and post a big score giving the rest of the World Cup nations a fright.

The thing is many of the home nations teams struggled against Italy this year and we need to do a job on the buggers.

Upsets are on the cards.

Argentina have beaten France three times out of the last four times they've met.

So that's on the cards that they can possibly tip them up.

And we have to look at it in the same contest.

We need to start with real positivity and have a big game.

If the All Blacks play with the flair they have shown in the past two or three years they should rip them apart and destroy them.

Learn from past mistakes.

We went through the last World Cup winning but not really winning with any finality.

Then all of a sudden we got to the game against Australia and we didn't even front.

We want to see the boys focused, doing the job they've been picked to do and playing to the form that we know they can reach.

That last game against Australia was probably the best they'd had all year and that's where they need to start.

Catching up with old mates.

I had the pleasure of attending the Rugby Re-Union dinner hosted by ITV in London this week.

There were 45 ex-international players from different eras and all the different countries.

They had four of the last five World Cup winners except for David Kirk - who was the only one who couldn't make it.

Basically it was a dinner to celebrate the start of a new World Cup and the past World Cups as well.

They celebrated all the different eras and interviewed all the stars from the different World Cups like Jonah Lomu and all the captains from the previous eras.

It was fantastic to be there and amazing to see all these players all in the same room.

But it also brought up a few issues that I think need to be resolved.

Everything revolves around the World Cup.

We've been talking about this World Cup since the last one finished in 2003.

We're living in the world of the World Cup.

Basically everything is geared towards the World Cup now and we're forgetting about the rugby that's played in between.

It doesn't mean as much as what the World Cup does and I think we've got to get over that.

I think we've got to put a lot more emphasis on the actual games that happen in between.

Talking to a lot of the old boys they'd love to see international touring go back to the way it used to be.

It would be great to go back to an eight to 10 match tours.

I'd love to see the All Blacks going on summer tours and playing some of the clubs and have mid-week games in the Northern Hemisphere like we used to.

A lot of the old blokes admitted this is something they miss.

OK, the players today are professionals but they're not exposing themselves to anybody else barring who's in their country playing in their championships.

And likewise in New Zealand the last time we had a tour that went through the country was the Lions.

And they got shaken up by quite a few of the provinces.

You just don't see that anymore.

We need to bring life back into the world of rugby outside of Test rugby.

Especially in between World Cups.

A lot of people in New Zealand are saying around the traps that competitions like the Super 14 are getting boring.

Hopefully it might get a bit more excitement in it if they do move to using the new rules next season.

But there just doesn't seem to any excitement in the football we're playing anymore.

The thing is we've been doing this for the last 10 years.

And people are getting tired of it.

In the old system it was different every year.

Rugby at the moment in New Zealand and in Europe is all the same.

There's got to be work done to set up a universal season so that they can schedule these types of tours - it would be a good idea.

Get in behind the boys.

Finally before I sign off for the week and get ready to watch the All Blacks go to battle I'd like to say to every New Zealander out there get in behind the All Blacks over the next few weeks.

Get behind our team.

Don't be too hard on them, it is a tough tournament to win and I think we can be pretty critical of our stars at the top.

Support them because they'll need all the support they can get.

By Buck Shelford, Yahoo!Xtra Sports