Rugby: The biggest threat to the All Blacks in 2019

The All Blacks aren't heading to Japan for two tests next year to make money, they are going to dramatically improve their chances of winning the 2019 World Cup.

England, Australia and Ireland are viewed as the main threat to the All Blacks winning a third consecutive World Cup, but in actual fact, the real challenge in 2019 may be avoiding homesickness and a sense of players being battered down by the unfamiliarity of the host nation.

Gaining maximum exposure to Japan before the tournament in September 2019 is a major focus for the All Blacks.

They want their players to better understand a country that remains a relative mystery, which is why they have opted to play back-to-back tests there next year.

A test against Japan on November 3 next year has long been locked into the schedule and now New Zealand Rugby has opted to take what should have been a home Bledisloe Cup fixture to Japan.

The Bledisloe Cup game is likely to be played on October 27 and the venues for both tests will be finalised with at least one likely to be played in Yokohama which will host the World Cup final.

Those two weeks next year could be crucial in 2019 as Japan will take the All Blacks out of their comfort zone.

It will take every team other than the hosts out of their comfort zone and while all the pre-tournament analysis will ponder respective set piece strength, game plans and x-factor, the winner could well be the nation that assimilate best to the stunningly different cultural experience that is Japan.

It will be a World Cup like no other for Japan doesn't share many, if any, lifestyle similarities with either Europe, the Americas, Africa or Oceania. Japan is its own magical world where tradition and modernity sit as easy bedfellows.

The culinary offering is diverse and creative, the infrastructure advanced and reliable and the people quite ridiculously helpful and welcoming.

Japan will raise the bar for future hosts on so many fronts and provide those with an intrepid streak - a willingness to embrace the new and unusual - with the richest memories.

Fans are likely to leave Japan wanting more but their needs are not those of the players.

High performance athletes need to live within not outside their comfort zone in terms of their preparation.

Their lives run on routine and are powered by a sense of the familiar. But there also has to be an element of escapism within that - a chance to get outside the bubble and unwind.

The All Blacks have learned this the hard way. When former coach Graham Henry took over in 2004, he and his fellow management team generalised that when the team was overseas, the players were mostly insular, too wedded to the team hotel and creature comforts such as Play Stations.

There was no escape valve, no means to break what can be a monotonous cycle of training, analysing and training.

It was partly this lack of inherent worldliness that led Henry and his team to coin the mantra 'better people make better All Blacks' and encourage players to push their boundaries while away from home and to get out more and broaden their horizons.

In the last 10 years the All Blacks have become significantly better tourists. Players understand that holing up in the hotel for a week is not conducive to performance and these days, no matter where they are in the world, All Blacks can be spotted in cafes, restaurants, out shopping or sight-seeing.

Embracing their host venue has become part of their routine and a major, if under appreciated factor in their ongoing success.

It also helps that the regular rugby destinations of Dublin, London, Cardiff, Johannesburg and Sydney are not so different to New Zealand.

There's a common language which goes a long way to making things less daunting. But sevens weeks in Japan, where little English is spoken or written, could become challenging.

Even heading out for a coffee can present issues which is why the All Blacks coaching staff want their players to become more familiar with Japan before 2019.