All Blacks: Tiring ABs face final challenge

All Blacks coach Graham Henry. Photo / Getty Images

The All Blacks' toughest task this week will be trying to coax 80 more minutes of energy and intensity out of weary bodies as they chase a third grand slam in five years.

The coaches have decided to scale back on training after some players admitted in the lead-up to the Ireland match that they were feeling every one of the tests they have played this year.

"Our challenge is that we've played 13 test matches in the past five months and the guys are starting to feel the pinch a bit, which is understandable," coach Graham Henry said on arrival in Cardiff yesterday.

"I don't want to make a big deal of it but it's been a long season. We've been going since February and we're near the end of November and they're still playing rugby."

Henry did not feel the squad had been over-trained in Dublin, but they will lighten the workload this week as they prepare for one last push.

Getting out of the high-intensity rugby bubble that Cardiff can be during test week is also on the agenda, with the team training across the border in Bath overnight.

"We've played a lot of rugby, this group, over the course of the year, and some of it's been high-pressure stuff in the Tri Nations," Henry said. "We put a huge amount of energy into the early part of the year so we have to make sure we prepare well and not overdo it.

"We want them to have a full tank in the weekend when they play so we won't be over-doing any training. Hopefully, we can get their heads right and that will be the major objective."

It should not be difficult searching for inspiration.

If the All Blacks beat Wales they will join South Africa with four grand slams and they will remain the only team to have done so since Australia won their one and only in 1984.

While there is debate about the merits of a grand slam now because of the lack of midweek games, it is nevertheless admirable that New Zealand seems to be the only team capable of maintaining their form throughout the season.

"The boys are pretty aware of what's going on. We talked about the grand slam before the Irish test. We said we wouldn't have a chance of achieving that if we didn't do the business [at Lansdowne Rd].

"The 2005 and 2008 sides achieved the grand slam and a number of the players were in those sides and they're very proud of that, but this side hasn't achieved that."

Twenty-six teams have set out from the Southern Hemisphere in search of a grand slam and only eight of them have been successful - nine if the All Blacks win at Millennium Stadium on Sunday morning. While the reduced length of the tours after 1984 meant no team attempted a slam again until 1998, only one team has been successful since the advent of professionalism.

"South Africa haven't achieved a grand slam since 1961 and Australia achieved their one in 1984. So outside the All Blacks there hasn't been a grand slam for 26 years, so we're pretty proud of that.

"We want to try to add to that All Black legacy if we can."

The All Blacks discussed the events at Murrayfield over the weekend, where South Africa's grand slam hopes were laid to rest against a Scotland team that bore little resemblance to the one humbled by the All Blacks seven days earlier.

"That's why I complimented the boys on their professionalism, that they get up and play every game well," Henry said.