All Blacks: Tour warm-up for World Cup

The All Blacks will play Wales in Cardiff for the third year in a row. Photo / Getty Images

The All Blacks have agreed to a third grand slam tour in six years and are now in negotiations about returning to Asia for a fourth Bledisloe Cup match.

England have announced a test with the All Blacks at Twickenham on December 4, although it is still awaiting IRB sign-off, meaning Graham Henry's side will meet Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England in consecutive weeks.

This could come on the heels of a fourth Bledisloe Cup match, likely to be in Japan at the end of October. Both Hong Kong and Tokyo are vying to host the test but it's understood Tokyo is the preferred option.

Australia boss John O'Neill is supportive of Japanese rugby and has said a side from Japan should play in an expanded Super Rugby competition. He also believes Sanzar should support Japan because they are to host the 2015 World Cup.

Both the NZRU and ARU have indicated they are willing to play a fourth Bledisloe Cup match in Asia for the third year running but it could be the last for some time.

The World Cup will dominate the schedule in 2011 and Argentina's likely inclusion in the Tri Nations from 2012 mean the chances of squeezing a fourth Bledisloe Cup match in future diminish.

It makes financial sense to play there. Details have not been released but last year's Tokyo game was reportedly worth up to $4.5 million, while the game in Hong Kong in 2008 is understood to have been even more profitable.

The biggest difficulty this time around is fitting it into a tour programme. The All Blacks meet Scotland in Edinburgh most likely on November 13 to start their UK tour while Australia play Wales at Cardiff on November 6. That means October 30 is the most likely option.

But that would leave the All Blacks with a blank weekend on November 6. They could return from Japan and organise a game here, possibly to help open the new Eden Park (although rugby league play a Four Nations double header there on November 6), or arrange another fixture in Europe.

Coach Graham Henry also has a decision to make on how many players to take on the end-of-year tour.

Last year, he took 33 players to Japan and the UK; 35 went in 2008. But with only 30 players allowed for the World Cup, Henry might want to try and replicate those conditions.

He could use it as a last chance for fringe players to stake a claim for a World Cup spot but the most likely option would be to take his pseudo World Cup squad. It's what he did in 2006 and 10 months out from the World Cup is not the time for experimentation.

There have been arguments the All Blacks are overdoing grand slam tours. This will be their third in six years - they picked up wins over each of the Home Unions in 2005 and 2008 - when there were only six others between 1905 and 2004.

But it is another financially lucrative fixture for the NZRU, with a game against England at Twickenham reportedly worth as much as $3 million. And it has been easy to arrange with the tours rotation throwing up three of the four Home Unions in 2005, '08 and '10.