By Rob Hodgetts

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw (left) and coach Graham Henry

New Zealand are the hot favourites for the event, which starts on 7 September.

But Fitzpatrick told BBC Sport: "In terms of weakness, complacency would be the one thing that would worry me."

He also feels they could be let down by their squad rotation policy, adding that some players may not be used to toughing it out in tight situations.

"When England won the World Cup in 2003 they basically played the same 15 from a year out," said the former hooker, who won 92 caps between 1986 and 1997.

"We've given away a lot of All Blacks jerseys to develop the squad for the World Cup."

However, Fitzpatrick still believes the players are in good shape and believes the Tri-Nations champions, who have lost just once this year, have "ticked most of the boxes" going into the tournament.

If NZ get knocked out when they should have won, the public, the shareholders, all four million of us, will be very upset Sean Fitzpatrick

"They're fit, they're fast, they're strong, they have very few injuries, a good scrum, good line-out, good defensive system, good attack, outstanding coaches and they've all got a burning desire. I expect them to win," he said.

New Zealand were the inaugural winners of the World Cup in 1987 but have failed to repeat that success in subsequent tournaments.

And Fitzpatrick admits it would be a "national disaster" if the Kiwis, who are in Pool C with Scotland, Italy, Romania and Portugal, were to come home empty-handed again.

"New Zealand will be a horrible place to be," he said. "We expect them to win. If they get knocked out when they should have won, the public, the shareholders, all four million of us, will be very upset.

"If they get knocked out by a better team, you can accept that but at the moment I can't see a better team beating them.

"Ireland, France or Argentina in the quarter-finals are a threat. Looking past that, if we meet Australia in the semis, you never know what you're going to get there.

"And if we get through to the final, we will probably come up against France or South Africa, which is probably the biggest threat.

The All Blacks have built up a head of steam going into the World Cup

"South Africa have got the artillery to combat the All Blacks. Man for man they can match us in the physicality stakes, so South Africa are a team we're going to have to be very, very wary of."

However, Fitzpatrick believes South Africa coach Jake White made a mistake by fielding a second-string side for the Tri-Nations away games.

"I was surprised Jake White didn't take his full side to the away games because you need to build momentum," said Fitzpatrick, speaking at official sponsor Orange's Rugby World Cup preview event.

"The South Africans had generated so much momentum through the Super 14 and then over the summer [beating England twice], so to not continue that is a mistake, I believe.