AllBlacks begins preparations for Christchurch

http://www.allblacks.com/news/19609/AllBlacks-begins-preparations-for-Christchurch James Mortimer - (10/06/2012)


The World Champions will play Ireland in Christchurch for the first time in history this weekend, and All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said he was intrigued as to how the tourists would respond in the second test of the Steinlager Series.


It will be the All Blacks first test at the new AMI Stadium in Addington, while it will be their first test in Christchurch since defeating the Wallabies 20-10 in August of 2010.

Overall the All Blacks have won 39 of 48 tests in the Crusaders home city for a winning record of over 80 percent.

With the hosts playing Ireland for a three-test series for the first time, it was a contest that captain Brian O’Driscoll said suited his troops, as they had “two more cracks” at trying to break a 107-year losing drought.

Hansen said that Ireland would do exactly what the All Blacks would be doing over the coming days.

“The interesting thing is we've got a three match test series and clearly they'll go away and analyse what we did and try to put things into place to stop it,” he said.

“They'll look at their own game and look to improve that as well, that's exactly what we have to do, to look at the things in our game and we have to be a step ahead.”

"They're going to look at what we can do different to take advantage." 

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, who was happy with the win but said his team needed to improve their work at the breakdown, said that like the World Cup success, the 42-10 win over Ireland would be put behind them quickly.

“We won’t get too carried away because it wasn’t perfect by any stretch,” he said. 

“We’ve got to be very happy but come tomorrow we’ll be looking forward to the next one. That’s the challenge of playing test rugby, you’ve got to get straight back on the horse for next week.”