KEY POINTS:
Blitz defence. It was a strategy Warren Gatland brought back from his English coaching stint to Waikato and is now using in his latest coaching project with Wales.
So this week there has been extra heat on Waikato backs Richard Kahui and Mils Muliaina to school up their
All Black teammates on the dos and don'ts for this weekend's third part of the Grand Slam challenge in Cardiff.
Kahui was the solitary confirmed change in the team to play Wales as he replaces Conrad Smith who is still troubled by his groin muscle affliction.
The front row issues were further complicated because Neemia Tialata, who can cover both sides of the scrum, has the flu. Several others in the squad, including Kahui, have been battling a similar virus.
The centre played several seasons under Gatland's command and had a strong knowledge of his gameplans and the way he likes to attack games.
"Watching Wales play is very, very similar to the way we played under him for Waikato and the Chiefs the year he was involved. I certainly know what to expect and I know what he will be saying to those boys coming into this game.
"He will demand that they work as hard as they can. His whole philosophy with us was to make the other team work as hard as we are. The old gameplan, everyone knew what it was but what he used to say was 'okay they know what it is but the challenge for them is to try and match it'. It worked really well for us and I am sure those boys are going to work bloody hard and will be very physical which I think will be key.
"If we aren't as physical as we need to be it will be a bit of a dogfight like that last game [against Munster]. He will be stressing that they need to work hard and need to take the game to us and not just sit back and wait."
Kahui said Gatland was primarily a forwards coach but he would also come and lend a hand to fine tune the backs or smarten their defence when necessary. He was demanding in what he wanted from his team but no more so than others who earned their coin at international level.
Gatland was always challenging his players, he rarely let them drift along in their own space. He was "ruthless" he always gave more to his teams and wanted more in return.
He favoured the blitz or rush defence and from what Kahui had seen he seemed to be prolonging that backline defensive style with Wales.
"It is sort of risk versus reward, that's what we used to call it. You can put the attacking team under so much pressure with your linespeed and getting up and you can hit them behind the gainline. That sort of defence can really get you in the game and gets the attack going backwards.
"It is a real strength but if not done properly can be a real weakness but he has had them for nearly two years so I am sure they will all be pretty switched on to what their roles are and how best to use the system."
Kahui liked the blitz system and the more conventional push and drift defensive tactics.
The blitz carried the benefit of knocking an attacking team over behind the advantage line and created a great deal of heat.
It could suffocate sides but there were risks while the slide defence created a different type of pressure.
The Waikato players in the All Blacks also knew what tactics worked to nullify the blitz defence and they were able to impart that knowledge and theory. The All Blacks had already run through a variety of those solutions.
They included a range of attacking kicks and clean passes.
The difficulty was getting everyone to think on the same wavelength because the attack needed to be very different to counteract the blitz. There were many ideas but the tricky part was the execution.
Kahui has had an extremely busy week preparing as a reserve for Munster, training with the team for Wales and looking to fend off the flu.