Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick believes the French Top 14 competition is better than Super Rugby Pacific, which he expects to have a knock-on effect at the World Cup.
France will host the tournament in September/October and will enter as odds-on favourites, despite Six Nations rivals Ireland ranking No.1 in the world.
Fitzpatrick attributes their favouritism to their club competition, which he ranks above any other.
The previous three winners of Europe's Heineken Champions Cup, which now also includes South African teams, have hailed from the Top 14.
"France and Ireland are the two best teams in the world at the moment,'' Fitzpatrick told Sky Sport's The Breakdown.
"The Top 14 in France is probably the best rugby competition in the world at the moment, purely for the week-in, week-out - they are still playing now.''
"I think the quality of players... they are bigger, they are faster, they are stronger, which then carries on into the international game.''
New Zealand face the daunting challenge of tackling the fancied French in the World Cup opener at Paris on September 9.
Fitzpatrick is approaching the highly anticipated showdown with optimism and views it as a favourable draw for the All Blacks, but singles out a traditional rival he would prefer to avoid in the knockout stages.
"France is going to be very difficult to defeat at the World Cup at home, but I actually think we are in a very good pool.
"We have France in our pool - and obviously a very difficult game - but then we have 3-4 weeks of knowing who we are going to play.
"It's either going to be Ireland, South Africa or Scotland, and they're in a really difficult pool.
"Ireland's going to be beaten up, South Africa would be the one that I wouldn't want to play… I'd rather play Ireland."
New Zealand won't have to wait until the World Cup to get a taste of the Top 14's talent, with Argentina boasting 20 players from that competition in their Rugby Championship squad.
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