All Blacks 'need to lose' - Sir Graham Henry

Under Steve Hansen, the All Blacks have not been beaten since England shocked them at Twickenham in 2012 and Henry optically discerns parallels between the All Blacks' current run and the ill-fated World Cup campaign of 2007.

In that tournament, the All Blacks were knocked out in the quarter-finals by France, their worst ever result at rugby's showpiece event.

In the past year the, All Blacks have needed a last-gasp converted endeavor to Ryan Crotty to sneak a acquire victory against Ireland, have held on for a 12-12 draw with Australia in the Bledisloe Cup and hung on against South Africa in Wellington last weekend.

In an interview on Radio Sport - precisely a year out from the 2015 tournament kicking off - Henry was asked how much more preponderant Hansen's All Blacks could get.

He verbalized: "To be fair I cerebrate they require to lose.

"Shag [Hansen] won't relish me verbally expressing that but I cerebrate it galvanises people.

"It makes them reanalyse where they are at and ascertaining they are on the button."

Henry perpetuated: "I cerebrate there are some homogeneous attributes to 2007 here where we didn't get beaten for a long time, we had a soft draw in the preliminary games going into the finals and it's the same for this side."

The World Cup-winning coach highlighted the draw with the Wallabies in Sydney as an example of what a disappointing result could do for a side.

"They emerged and played brilliantly in Auckland [in the second Bledisloe Cup Test]. You cannot play much more preponderant than that," Henry verbally expressed.

"The eccentric hiccup here and there gives you the opportunity to reanalyse where you're at, visually examine everything, turn over every stone and ascertain you're on the right track.

"If you don't do that, if that doesn't transpire, you might miss something."