All Blacks getting on the same page
The Southern Hemisphere teams normally go straight from Super Rugby into the mid-year Tests with no break.
This year there is a weekend of no fixtures, before they start the first round of June Tests against the invaders from the Northern Hemisphere.
And for the All Blacks it is a perfect opportunity to all get on the same page, as their five franchises all have slightly different approaches to the game.
The Smiths, Aaron and Ben, both feel this week is just what the doctor ordered ahead of the three-Test series against Wales.
"It is just getting our heads around our game plan," scrumhalf Aaron Smith said when asked about the goals in training this week.
"We are all coming from different teams and we need to get our heads around calls, just getting our All Black hats back on," he added about the camp in Auckland.
Highlanders teammate, fullback Ben Smith, said it is "quite good" to have two weeks of back-to-back training.
"We get to work on the game structures and how we want to play," Ben Smith, the new All Black vice-captain, said.
"We can really get that into our brains this week and then come next week it won't be as cluttered."
Assistant coach Ian Foster said there are "plenty of content" for the team to work through this week.
"Hopefully by the end of the week the bodies will be a bit more charged up and we can get a bit more intensity into it," he said of the training that got underway in wet and rainy conditions on Monday.
"This Junes is going to be a great series," Foster said, adding: "They [Wales] have put more into their preparation than they have before.
"The Welsh clubs did not make the play-offs of the Celtic League [Pro12] and we expect them to be jumping out their skin."
Source: allblacks.com
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