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Rugby is usually a safer bet for New Zealand World Cup glory than netball or cricket but this year the tables have turned on the All Blacks.

Every four years it's been a similar theme in New Zealand sport.

The All Blacks have become accustomed to salvaging the nation's sporting morale after the cricketers and netballers come up short at their respective World Cups.

This year no rescue act is required.

In fact, the pressure has swung onto rugby's most successful team to simply match their triumphant compatriots.

Three of the biggest sports in terms of participation and interest to Kiwis all share the same World Cup cycle and the pattern had become predictable - until 2019.

The Silver Ferns clinched gold in Liverpool last week, ending Australia's reign in the final and snapping a 16-year drought.

A week before the Black Caps went as close as humanly possible to claiming cricket's biggest prize for the first time.

Some rotten luck and a boundary countback at Lord's worked in England's favour but Kane Williamson and his men left a golden glow.

Veteran All Blacks forward Sam Whitelock said the results don't necessarily add pressure to their campaign in Japan, where the three-time champions are far from certainties to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.

Rather they'll serve as an inspiration.

"It's been pretty awesome. Obviously the cricketers, so so close, and then the netballers getting there," he said.

"It's pretty inspiring to see little old New Zealand doing that on the world stage so it's something that we'll look at and see if there's anything that we can learn or use."

The results have also prompted international commentators to opine whether New Zealand is the world's pre-eminent sporting nation, pound for pound.

It's not a new theory for a country populated by just under five million people.

Similar noises were made when the Kiwi Olympic team finished with the 14th most medals at the last Summer Games in Rio.

Current predictions have them finishing 16th in Tokyo next year.