KEY POINTS:
The closest selection call in the All Blacks was at centre where young tyro Richard Kahui challenged Conrad Smith for his place against Ireland.
Smith is the incumbent, a solid footballer with strong instincts, a low error rate and the often under-estimated value of doing everything for the team cause. He is also a strong director whose combination with provincial teammate Ma'a Nonu is an added-value component.
Kahui had done nothing wrong to be left out of a very strong side to face Ireland but coach Graham Henry admitted he had a quiet word to him to reinforce how content the selectors were with his progress.
His time would come, Henry said, he had played particularly well against Scotland and he wanted to reassure Kahui about the quality of his play.
"He took it really well, he had no problem and was only concerned that the team went well this weekend," Henry revealed. "I'm sure he was disappointed because he has played well but he did not show any trace of disappointment, all he cared about was the team welfare."
Kahui has got his wish on this tour to be considered as a specialist centre, rather than the capable wing he was at times this season, and showed some beautiful touches against Scotland while also climbing into his defensive duties. He is pressing hard and must surely start against Wales or England later in the tour.
The All Blacks have not dabbled with experiments for this weekend's Part II of the Grand Slam quest at Croke Park. They have picked those available from the sides which annexed the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup series several months ago.
"It is the best team we could put on the track for this particular game. I think there is a lot of experience, probably well over 600 caps there and most of these guys played together in the Tri-Nations so there is a lot of combinations there that have won trophies," Henry said.
One interesting change has Kieran Read on the bench ahead of Adam Thomson in a move which reinforces the value placed on his loose forward work against Scotland and gives him a chance to build on that if he is required.
It had been great to include fullback and new father Mils Muliaina after his delayed start to the tour. He had trained strongly and there was every reason to think he would produce the sort of performance which had him in the hunt as the best custodian in the world.
Ireland would be a tough proposition. They were made up, largely, from two of the better-performing club sides in Europe and had played well enough in New Zealand earlier this year when they could have won the test held in dreadful conditions in Wellington.
New coach Declan Kidney had shown his talents with Munster and would undoubtedly raise those levels even higher with the national squad.
"We have been very impressed with their style in recent times, I thought they played a hell of a good style on tour [in NZ], they would be disappointed with last year, some other people are also pretty disappointed with their displays last year too," Henry added wryly.
"The way they played the game on the southern tour in June was pretty refreshing, a lot of counter-attack, a lot of backplay and good balance with their forwards and they will be looking to add to that in their test matches in the next three weeks."
Senior wing Joe Rokocoko was also looking to build on the work he started in Edinburgh and had looked sharp in training for what will be his 50th test match. He would benefit from the extra work after such a long layoff.
Rokocoko was part of a backline whose defence would be tested hard by Ireland if they got some decent ball. Ireland had a dangerous attacking formation led by captain Brian O'Driscoll in midfield and they asked many questions of defenders.
"They're quite sophisticated the way they move late, they change the picture late and they keep you on your toes," backs coach Wayne Smith acknowledged. "They are very well coached, good thinkers in the backline."
O'Driscoll was a strong player on and off the ball, instrumental in Ireland's hopes, perhaps the best centre in the world and the All Blacks had concentrated on how they would contain him.
