All Black coaches keep Apia game plan simple

All Black Jerome Kaino. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The All Blacks' scare in their first test last year - a narrow win over England at Eden Park - will play a big part in their build-up to next week's against Samoa in Apia, their first of 2015.

Aaron Cruden's decision to tap, rather than kick, a penalty in the final minutes, which swept the All Blacks on to a rare attack and allowed them to break a 15-all deadlock with a try to Conrad Smith for a 20-15 win, was a piece of clear thinking missing elsewhere because, the coaches believe, the players went into the test with muddled minds.

And, as the All Blacks go into camp today with several newcomers making up for the absence of 17 players missing because of the Super Rugby final between the Hurricanes and Highlanders, the need for keeping things simple has hardly been greater.

Whoever takes to the Apia Park pitch next Wednesday afternoon should do so with a clear knowledge of a simple game plan, according to coach Steve Hansen. The fancy stuff can come later.

"We put too much on the menu [last year] and when you do that you overload the mind, and to be able to play high-intensity, high-accuracy rugby you've got to have a clear mind - if you're still trying to learn things come Thursday, Friday, you're not going to have that," Hansen said.

The All Black coaches had contingency plans around the missing players, but that in itself doesn't make up for the fact that there will be several new faces on the plane to Apia on Monday.

Now that they know what they are dealing with, the coaches will attempt to ease them - as well as the more experienced players - into the first test of a big year.

How to assimilate the 17 Hurricanes and Highlanders into the environment in the build-up to the Argentina test in Christchurch on Friday, July 17, has also been occupying the coaches' minds.

"It is disjointed, that's the big thing we've got to deal with," Hansen added. "And in our planning we've had to recognise that. While we've got 17 guys away, those guys will turn up in the Argentina week. How do we make sure we don't clutter them?

"They're going to come in a day earlier than everybody else and meet with the coaches and we'll run them through what we've done up to that point. And hopefully with the other guys having had a camp and played it will be second nature to them."

Skipper Richie McCaw said it was important the senior players set the standard this week, and while players such as Ben Smith, Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith are out of the frame, there remains plenty of experience in McCaw, Kieran Read, Jerome Kaino and Dan Carter.

"There will be a few extra guys who perhaps haven't played for the All Blacks before so if you try to load them up with everything they'll freeze from making sure they do the right thing," McCaw said. "We just want to make sure we get the basics spot on so they can show why they've been picked. There's enough of us ... who have been around for a while who know what's needed."