All Blacks: Smith, Retallick to get their start

Sonny Bill Williams and Hosea Gear prepared at Trusts Stadium, Waitakere, for Saturday's test against Ireland. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The All Blacks' future will be entrusted to little and large with halfback Aaron Smith and lock Brodie Retallick in the frame to start the opening test against Ireland.

Both figured prominently when a shadow test lineup ran briefly during a training session at Waitakere yesterday, which suggests they will make their debut with left wing Julian Savea on Saturday.

Smith at 1.83m and 82kg has brought a new dimension with his delivery and speed while Retallick at 2.04m and 125kg has dominated the air and supplied enough scrum grunt and phase play cleanout to demand inclusion.

The right wing vacancy created by the injury exits of Cory Jane and Richard Kahui appears to be filled by Zac Guildford who has played on the other flank for the Crusaders but roams the field looking for work.

The most intriguing change in the All Black pack beckons with Victor Vito firming to start as blindside flanker. He was a dramatic late callup for the Tri-Nations and then the World Cup squad where he filled in across all three backrow positions.

With no Jerome Kaino this season, the selectors may feel Vito is best suited to the enforcer role they want from their blindside flanker and will offer him that chance at Eden Park.

Vito said everyone needed to make an adjustment about stopping Super 15 rugby to start the test programme.

"It is a mental thing really. You just have to make sure you park up the season and all the dings you have taken and sort of come in fresh, otherwise you will complain about the knocks you have had here and there.

"It was like in the weekend when your name is read out and then you are not so sore."

He was covering both No 8 and blindside in the squad. Playing No 8 for the Hurricanes involved a range of attacking and defensive tasks while blindside was more a covering role with a big defensive responsibility.

He would like his test career to resemble that of Kaino, the side's ironman whose All Black career has stopped at 48 tests because of an injured shoulder and his next tour of duty in Japan.

"I see myself as someone going into that role, when you are an All Black loosie physicality is a huge part of that role," Vito said.

"And I will be damned if I am the one letting them down and I just have to keep working on that and hurt people really."

Ireland would miss injured loose forward Stephen Ferris but there was plenty of talent in the All Blacks. They had done some research on Ireland but that was a best guess inspection because they could change some of their tactics.

The All Blacks expected a direct approach from Ireland, that was their Six Nations template, but they would also have plans if the visitors tried a more expansive approach. If the World Cup taught Vito anything it was "to put it out on the field and have no reservations".

Senior centre Conrad Smith said the tight turnaround was a challenge but the squad had trained well in their two training camps.

Meeting respected Irish skipper Brian O'Driscoll again always fired him up.

"He is as good as they get," Smith said of his rival.

"I love how long he has played, I love the fact that he [was] supposedly not playing his best and there have been times when he has come over here and been written off.

"But he always comes back and shows his class. In his position at centre, if you can keep churning out as many years as he has you have got some quality and character about you and he has bucketloads of that."

He also lauded the selection of Savea and warned that people had yet to see the best of the young wing.

"That's the scary thing. If he gets a chance I would be saying to him to relax because he's great to watch and have him outside me."