No ambush. No excuses. This Test will be decided on merit

No sooner had the plane carrying the New Zealand squad from Heathrow taxied to its arrivals slot at Dublin Airport the shadow boxing kicked off.

Head coach Steve Hansen, a man well versed in the art of delivering pre-match verbals — having gone toe to toe with the likes of the mouthy Eddie Jones, Michael Cheika and Warren Gatland over the years — was setting the agenda for Saturday night’s much anticipated clash between the nations ranked at one and two in the game.