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PARIS - Sweaty boxing gloves spilled out of a basket near the All Blacks team room.
It signified the team's aerobic training and also their vigilance about any disruptive tactics the French may deliver in tomorrow's repeat meeting at Stade de France in Paris.
History and intuition in the All Black camp has them anticipating an early blue from Les Bleus in an attempt to derail the tourists' concentration.
Anything is possible, as the French showed when they abandoned training yesterday as showers fell at their headquarters on the outskirts of the capital.
"I think training will be irrelevant for them, I think it will be about how they turn up here," assistant All Black coach Wayne Smith said, tapping his head.
"Our gut feeling is that they are going to turn up passionate and aggressive." Others in the All Blacks privately mentioned their hunch that France would try some intimidation in response to their limp 47-3 failure last week in Lyon.
"Our task is to this week gather that feeling [from Lyon] and at least match the passion that the French are going to have coming into this encounter," said Smith.
All sorts of methods and devices were being used by the All Blacks to get them in the zone for this test, which marks 100 years of tests between the two nations.
The bulk of the test side sampled the atmosphere at Stade de France midweek, when they watched the French soccer side, and team meetings have emphasised the French ability to reverse heavy defeats from the All Blacks.
Nantes 1986, Twickenham 1999, Marseille 2000 - they are unpleasant memories but strong motivational tools. Seven French changes is a big call from coach Bernard Laporte and if his new combination is still beaten, the All Blacks' aura in the Northern Hemisphere will take another invaluable pre-World Cup spike.
The All Blacks will need to be as ruthless on defence, scrum and lineouts and the five new players will aim to piggyback the quality of those who fronted at Lyon.
If there is one area the All Blacks want to improve, it is their attack from set-pieces.
Smith said the set-piece accuracy had been poor a week ago and that may have happened because the team had concentrated more on counter-attacks and other facets of their play.
The All Black staff had also been wary about this third week on tour, and the mistakes they made before the England test at the same juncture on last year's Grand Slam tour. In their anxiety to blend two sides, the coaches had overworked the team and they struggled to a 23-19 victory.
"We made some big errors that week in terms of the amount of work we fed them," Smith recalled.
This test in Paris was about maintaining the side's intensity, "not thinking about tomorrow when you have got a job to do today", as the All Blacks discovered when they blew their healthy lead in the 1999 RWC semifinal against France.
Midfield results will be massive for Ma'a Nonu and Mils Muliaina, a new combination with both boom and bust potential. If Nonu settles he could make a mess of Damien Traille or Yannick Jauzion in defence and another tick will go into the World Cup dossier.
The Chris Jack/Ali Williams locking tandem will also get the spotlight, with both needing to reassert their claim to be the side's top partnership.
Williams responded superbly to queries about his place in the team order at Lyon and was genuinely humbled to get another chance this week.
"I realise how close I am on the edge of watching the game," he said, "and now I have to make the most of it."
After wondering six weeks ago whether he would play again or be paralysed like his father, after rupturing neck ligaments against Bay of Plenty, Williams stood out in Lyon. Repeating that standard was his task tomorrow.
"Sometimes I relax too much and I need these things to get me going," he said.
It was not a case of coach Graham Henry putting the acid on him, this was self-help time for Williams in the locking logjam within the squad.
