Head coach Ian Foster has revealed multiple teams turned down invitations to take on the All Blacks.
The All Blacks have not been able to play a test this season, with their clashes against Wales and Scotland, scheduled for July, postponed indefinitely due to Covid-19, while the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship have been delayed until at least October.
The All Blacks' first match of the year, against a Moana Pacific side at Mt Smart Stadium on October 3, is expected to be confirmed next week, but Foster divulged they had hoped to schedule an official test in the window between the end of Super Rugby Aotearoa and the start of the Mitre 10 Cup – only for nations to turn down their approaches.
"We had a window of time between Super Rugby Aotearoa and Mitre 10 Cup. Normally we would try and play a test match – potentially against a Tier 2 country. There was no Tier 2 country that wanted to play us," Foster told Martin Devlin on Newstalk ZB.
"We put an invite out to a few but clearly a lot of countries aren't in a situation or prepared to come over here and play at the moment, and we fully understand that."