Irish Lions soak up the tranquility
Can Ireland catch the ABs napping?
Ireland's players who were in New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions last year must be wondering if passion for rugby has died among All Blacks fans.
Brian O'Driscoll captained the Lions and has returned to New Zealand in the same role with Ireland.
"I guess it's been quieter – there weren't 300-400 people at the airport, there were probably five or six," said the Ireland and Leinster centre.
And lock Paul O'Connell added: "The media [during the Lions tour] were set up to take us on almost as much as the All Blacks were set up to take us on."
On the same day, coach Eddie O'Sullivan said he had to scour the morning paper to find any rugby at all.
Ireland have still not set up camp in Hamilton, the town labelled as the worst rugby town in the world by Australia fullback Chris Latham.
They are sequestered 80 miles north up State Highway 1 in Auckland where their training has been watched by the touring Irish media and that is about all.
It is a long way from barriers and training behind fences draped in cloth to prevent vital information being gleaned by the enemy as with the Lions.
Much as critics might like to think of New Zealanders as rugby-mad, the fans have grown up a little.
The Irish, like the Scots, are welcome rugby visitors with the potential to provide these All Blacks with a more than average contest.
There is respect for the vast skills of O'Driscoll, whose maturity in the wake of the Umaga-Mealamu tackle affair upon his return to New Zealand has been welcomed by all as an end to the incident.
Equally there is recognition that big Munster lock O'Connell leads a business-like pack capable of taking it too the home team.
There is also a sense of security in the prospect that the All Blacks can extend their winning record against Ireland to 102 years and their record at home to 17 successive victories, close to a record for the side.
Despite various absentees in the AB ranks, the home side can still field the best flank in the world in captain Richie McCaw, with his apprentice Marty Holah in tow, and they can be expected to create havoc in the loose.
And Luke McAlister is both willing and able to step in at fly-half with Dan Carter required for the All Blacks who will play in Argentina.
Wings Joe Rokocoko and Doug Howlett, two of the highest on the All Blacks try-scoring list, may have found the line far less frequently than usual in the Super 14. But that was more an indictment of their Blues team than of their lack of skills.
Then there are three of the hard men in the tight five, Carl Hayman on the tighthead side of the front row, and Keven Mealamu hooking beside him. Injury has meant Chris Jack will lock the scrum, and two tyros in prop Clarke Dermody and lock Greg Rawlinson will round out the unit.
There is enough solidity to suggest the All Blacks should withstand the Irish threat, but among the public at large, there appears to be a feeling that perhaps a loss, even if it meant losing such a proud record, might be another lesson of greater value by the time the 2007 Rugby World Cup comes around.
