All Blacks: Uprights downright difficult to find

The new home of Irish rugby could pose potential distraction for the likes of Dan Carter. Photo / Getty Images

It was usually the stony silence that unnerved an opposition goal kicker when lining up a penalty at Lansdowne Rd - but the new home of Irish rugby has another potential distraction for the likes of Dan Carter.

Because one end of the new glass-encased Aviva Stadium has only a single tier of green seating, a set of uprights is almost camouflaged against the backdrop which apparently makes it difficult for kickers to pick out the posts or gauge distances.

The idiosyncrasy was first noticed when the venue was road tested by two club teams last month.

"Kickers were saying that because of the unique shape of the stadium and that part of it is glass, seeing the posts and, therefore, judging the amount of power to apply was hard," said Connacht academy fullback Callum Boland.

"The posts just blended in which proved to be deceiving, I think it's an extra challenge the players will have to learn to adapt to."

The All Blacks had their first look at the state-of-the-art 51,000 venue today and the hard to pick out posts did not go unnoticed.

"I was just talking to DC (Carter) about that, you don't want to line up on the wrong post but I'm sure they'll be all right,"' said All Black captain Richie McCaw.

Andrew Mehrtens, Carter's predecessor as the All Blacks chief source of points, also noticed the anomaly when he visited the venue to catch up with some former teammates.

"A couple of the guys have mentioned it, it could be interesting,"' he said, adding the 5.30pm kick-off (local) time at least took the sun out the equation.

Mehrtens, who amassed 967 in 70 tests between 1995 and 2004, doubted his fellow Cantabrian would be troubled by the configuration of the stadium.

"If you know you're kicking well enough like DC does, it's not like he can't see the posts when he's first lining the ball up."

Mehrtens hoped another virtuoso performance from Carter would push him past Jonny Wilkinson's test record haul of 1178.

"I love watching him kick, love watching him play and scoring points," the 37-year-old said, predicting Carter could eventually break the 2000-point barrier.

"The sooner a New Zealander is on the top the better."

Carter needs 21 points to surpass the Englishman though history suggests Wilkinson's record may be safe until the potentially Grand Slam-clinching visit to Cardiff next weekend because in three previous tests against the Irish the New Zealander has averaged 11.6 per game.

Meanwhile, although the Irish economy is on the brink of collapse the All Black and Irish players will be in the lap of luxury before and after Sunday's (6.30amNZT) international.

The dressing rooms are unique in that each player has his own shower cubicle.

- NZPA