Imperious New Zealand taking cautious approach against Ireland

This New Zealand team don’t want to be that team that loses the first one to Ireland, writes Simon Lewis. 

It may sound strange to hear an All Blacks captain speaking of fear ahead of a Test match but to have present and past New Zealand skippers do so on the eve of their showdown with Ireland must go down as some sort of record.

The all-conquering world champions appear to be streets ahead of their rivals as they attempt to stretch their winning streak since August 2015 to a world-record 19 consecutive international wins.