KEY POINTS:
It might be a few tough days for any cyberjunkies in the Welsh team - or even those who prefer the old-fashioned habit of perusing the contents of their newspapers.
How coach Warren Gatland and staff will monitor their media ban is their issue but it would seem
a tough task to keep the squad away from all rugby news this week, as well as being slightly unnatural. But Gatland, the former Waikato coach and the latest Kiwi to take on the Welsh assignment, is adamant the veto will stay.
He has warned the players away from newspapers, tuning into radio or television bulletins or surfing the web for any information, details or opinions on how this weekend's test with the All Blacks will pan out.
"I do not want anything negative conveyed to the players," Gatland said. "It is very easy for things over here to be taken out of context or for angles and controversy to be raised in the tabloids.
"We need to get a bit of siege mentality and we can't let anything have a psychological impact on us. We have to make the players aware that they can't let anything get to them."
The Waikato man compared involvement in Welsh rugby to living in an incredible fishbowl.
There was a huge amount of pressure and the main rugby areas along the Newport and Llanelli corridor seethed with interest.
Imagine if you could, said Gatland, all of New Zealand rugby squeezed in between Auckland and Hamilton. That was something similar to what he faced in Wales.
Gatland visited Dublin last week to take in the All Blacks' 22-3 victory against Ireland and noted that his squad were bigger, physically, than the Grand Slam-seeking visitors. Wales had worked hard off the field and had also ramped up the intensity of their trainings.
"We have to make everything as intense as we can because to compete with the very best like the Southern Hemisphere, we have to work even harder to replicate what they achieve on the pitch," he said.
"We do not have enough experience of that so we have to ramp up our gym, power and fitness work."
Clearly Gatland is also concerned about the aura, record and intimidation factor the All Blacks carry against their Northern Hemisphere opponents, though he thinks he is making inroads in that psychological battle.
"We will give them enormous respect because of who they are and what they have achieved, but we will not go down the road of adulation, fear or putting them on a pedestal.
"We must not be beaten before we start."
Graham Henry's All Blacks have met their combined Six Nations foes 17 times on northern tours in the past five seasons, with their solitary defeat at the Millennium Stadium last year to France in that never-to-be-forgotten World Cup quarter-final.
Wales went very close in 2004 when they succumbed 26-25 but since then the All Black margins have been substantial.
Eight of the All Blacks who played that day will start again this weekend while Gatland has stayed with the side who pushed the Boks a fortnight ago but paid for their slow start.
He has also retained his captain, Ryan Jones.
