The All Blacks' season will get significantly tougher from a mental perspective. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The All Blacks' season will get significantly tougher from a mental perspective. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Three months away from home – it's a real prospect for the All Blacks.
Saturday's second Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park could be their last home match of the year. All the more reason to get it right, vastly improve on last week's patchy victory and lock away theBledisloe Cup for a 19th straight year.
Treasure home advantage while it's there.
Whatever happens after this week, the season gets significantly tougher from a mental perspective.
Being away from home is nothing new to the All Blacks – in a typical season they spend almost half the year on the road. The difference this time is when they depart to Perth for the third Bledisloe on August 28, there is no confirmed return date.
While the transtasman bubble remains closed, the All Blacks will be stuck in limbo with the many thousands of other Kiwis abroad.
New Zealand Rugby has an agreement with its players that they will only quarantine once this year which is expected to be on return from the five-match end of year tour to Washington DC, Cardiff, Dublin, Paris and Rome.
At this point, NZ Rugby remains hopeful the bubble will reopen on September 18. That would allow the All Blacks to return home for two headline tests against the world champion Springboks – the first of which marks the 100th match between the two powerhouse rugby nations.
Such a prospect appears increasingly farfetched, however. New South Wales recorded 356 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday and with that rampant spread the State's focus has shifted from controlling the outbreak to mass vaccination drives. Victoria, while in much better shape, also remains in lockdown.
On that basis reopening the bubble in little more than one month seems fanciful.
Richie Mo'unga, Will Jordan, Brad Weber and Damian McKenzie during an All Blacks training session. Photo / Photosport
As it stands the All Blacks have a three-week gap between their final Rugby Championship test against the Springboks on October 2 and their first end of year tour match in Washington DC. Returning home to spend two-weeks in quarantine for the benefit of two to three days at home before leaving again is hardly worth it, and from a family perspective may do more harm than good.
If the bubble situation remains stagnant, this could force the All Blacks to head straight from Australia to the end of year tour and, therefore, spend three months on the road.
The Warriors, Black Caps, Phoenix, Breakers, as well as New Zealand's Olympians, golfers, tennis players and UFC fighters have all endured similar Covid-19 travel challenges.
The All Blacks will soon embark on their second stint of adversity. As was evident in their inconsistencies last year, when Ian Foster's first season at the helm delivered a 50 per cent win record, ever-changing schedules affect performance.
Foster was supposed to savour nine tests at home this year. With the two Argentina tests already shifted to Australia, and the Boks matches likely to follow, that figure could drop to five.
If not already, there is little doubt this uncertainty shrouding the remainder of the All Blacks' season will soon weigh heavily on their minds.
It's easier to compartmentalise these challenges at present, with the immediate task at hand in the form of the Wallabies at Eden Park.
After that, though, reality will begin to sink in. And the longer that situation unfolds, the greater toll it will inevitably take.
The All Blacks, like all sportsmen and women, are more than athletes. Many are fathers, husbands, partners. Even in the age of digital technology being away from family and friends tugs at heartstrings and mental wellbeing.
Codie Taylor and Richie Mo'unga celebrate. Photo / Photosport
All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor gave an insight last week into how he is attempting to approach the circumstances.
"You never want to be away from your family, and for me last year was tough – being away always is," Taylor said. "But it's a great opportunity to do what we love, and we've sort of used this year as an opportunity to channel that energy, knowing the uncertainty that could be around the corner. That's exactly the situation we're in now.
"For me it's all about representing them now, so every chance I get, it's for them. That goes a long way to putting a positive spin on what I'm trying to do in the jersey."
Managing the emotional burden – and the potential dead time between games where the All Blacks would otherwise be released home – will be a major challenge for Foster and his management team in the coming months.
So, too, will managing an extended squad. To cover for injuries and illness the All Blacks are likely to increase their 36-man squad. Fringe players may be asked to be away for the entire time, and possibly only feature in two games.
Striking the balance, when on tour for lengthy periods, between switching on and off is a fine line, one the All Blacks probably didn't get right last season.
Reading his players and playing the right emotive cards at the right times will be one of myriad challenges Foster confronts.
