The All Blacks look "almost unbeatable" for next year's Rugby World Cup in Japan – and that's coming from an Englishman.

Stuff.co says former England and British and Irish Lions first‑five Stuart Barnes has dished out high praise for Steve Hansen's team and their general approach in his latest column for the Sunday Times.

Barnes has always held the All Blacks in the highest regard.

In evaluating the opening round of the English Premiership last weekend, Barnes drew strong comparisons to New Zealand play in the winning debut of promoted outfit Bristol under the guidance of their New Zealand coach Pat Lam.

He noted that Bristol made "plenty of mistakes" in getting past Bath but there would be no berating of the players from Lam who was encouraging an adventurous approach.

He felt the All Blacks' success was as much to do with their errors as it was their excellence.

Barnes says the All Blacks are not immune to errors.

He says in both first halves of their recent games against Australia, they have done some dumb things.

However, they have the skill to extricate themselves from appalling positions because they have been encouraged to play at pace and trust their skill levels.

Barnes says the errors are almost part of the New Zealand DNA.

He says you cannot be as brilliant as Beauden Barrett without having a propensity for errors made in the process of taking his rugby to new dimensions.

The All Blacks will meet Argentina at 7.35pm Saturday while the Wallabies clash with the Springboks at 10pm Saturday.

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