Ian Foster talks to the media during a press conference following an All Blacks training session Photo: Hannah Peters
Analysis - There was a bit of a twist in the tail when the All Black team to play Ireland was announced this morning. Mark Telea was dropped, for what we can only guess, because Ian Foster would only confirm that the winger had breached team protocol and that was that.
It probably would have been better if Foster had at least given some vague reason as to why Telea is in the naughty corner. Given just how secretive the All Blacks are about their inner workings and the standard ranges all the way up to assaulting people in a bar, just what he did could really be anything.
One thing it might be, because someone inside the All Black set up is guilty of it, is leaking the team. While Telea and the in-form Cam Roigard's omissions are a surprise, it's not that much of a surprise because most astute followers (i.e. the media) have already known about it for the last 48 hours. And it's not like it's taken any type of Woodward and Bernstein level of investigative reporting either, as the side was published freely on social media.
The most concerning thing is that it's actually been happening all season, most notably in Dunedin for the second Bledisloe Cup test when the All Black side was heavily rotated.
If Andy Farrell's Ireland have their way on Sunday morning in Paris, along with what's expected to be such an overwhelming number of their fans that Stade de France is going to feel like a much bigger version of Lansdowne Road, it's a moot point anyway. Farrell has named an unchanged side to the one that smacked Scotland out of the tournament last weekend.
Meanwhile, apart from Telea's absence, Foster's side is consistent with what he's picked throughout the season. Ethan de Groot and Tyrel Lomax have a serious task on their hands to assert dominance over Andrew Porter and Tadgh Furlong at the scrum, but it's at lineout time where the All Black tight forwards really need to attack. If there has been one area where this Irish side has looked a bit shaky, it's there, but even then it hasn't hindered them from winning their last 17 tests in a row.
Ardie Savea, Sam Cane and Shannon Frizell need to all be figuring out the quickest way to shutting down Johnny Sexton, which is easier said than done. Frizell in particular needs to have a game like he did against the Springboks earlier this year, while Cane will be presumably keen to prove a point against Peter O'Mahoney after the Irish flanker's much publicised sledge in last year's third test.
However, while Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe have certainly already proven theirs to the New Zealand rugby pathway system that let them leave, they're also the three key men in the backline that the All Blacks need to shut down. Aki's hot form and hard running going against Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane's capabilities will be a test match in itself.
Will Jordan is playing, so you can already chalk a try next to the All Blacks right now, but how much of a target will the Irish make him when they launch Lowe and Mack Hansen? Then there's the combination that Richie Mo'unga and Beauden Barrett have to make work - which they have and haven't so far this season. Foster will be sweating that it'll be a performance like the one against the Springboks at Mt Smart, not the one against them at Twickenham.
As it stands, this is one of very, very few times that the All Blacks are going into a test as underdogs. The one positive is the last time they had been written off like this, they came out and won a test match at Ellis Park against all odds. They need to find whatever feeling they had going into that one, and do it all over again.
