Rugby: All Blacks captain Sam Whitelock on the tactics behind the tests ahead of Ireland clash

Samuel Whitelock will captain the All Blacks against Ireland. Photo / Photosport

With test match after test match in a short window, All Blacks captain Samuel Whitelock admits it can be easy to get carried away with the "whole chess game of it".

Throughout the week, the teams work on their formula for how to best exploit the other before setting it into action on game day. Last weekend, Italy had success by attacking with their defence – causing the All Blacks all sorts of problems with their defensive line speed, and with a strong Irish pack looming, it's an area of the game the All Blacks have addressed this week.

"We've got a few ideas that we can do," Whitelock said. "Sometimes, we've actually got the right plan and it's just executing the plan, but I think that's the beauty of playing test match rugby week in, week out.

"Teams will come up with a formula, we're sitting here trying to think, 'Right, if we were playing us, what would we do – would it be A, B or C?', and that's part of the game. I think a lot of our senior players and our management love the whole chess game of it. Sometimes you can get carried away with that, and other times it's as simple as saying what we're doing is good, but we just need to be better.

"Part of that is how we deal with teams and we've got to adapt on the run; some teams might be bringing heaps of line speed, for example, and others might be using the hold and push. We've got to have things in our head to go to straight away which will hopefully exploit what they're trying to do to us."

Samuel Whitelock will captain the All Blacks against Ireland. Photo / Photosport

The All Blacks will run out at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Sunday morning (NZ time) for the penultimate match of their lengthy tour, taking on an Irish side full of confidence from their demolition job of Japan a week ago.

It will be the he first meeting between the two nations since their Rugby World Cup quarterfinal in Japan in 2019. On that occasion, the All Blacks were too good for their Irish counterparts, running in seven tries to two on their way to an impressive 46-14 win.

However, the ledger is square between the two sides over their last four meetings – dating back to Ireland's win in Chicago in November 2016. The two tests won by Ireland in that time are their only victories over the All Blacks.

"That rivalry has been there for quite a long time. I know some of my first games I played against the Irish at home in New Zealand, and every year those games were always tough, but sometimes the scoreboard never reflected that," Whitelock said of the history between the two teams.

"I think it's always been there. Obviously, Chicago everyone talks about, then losing here in Dublin a couple of years after that, great teams always get out there and play well.

"That's something for us to understand – there's always history and we'll never be disappointed with what the Irish team bring; they're always going to bring their best game for us...and it's the same for us.

"We want to make sure we don't disappoint them with how we're playing; we want to make sure we're putting our best foot forward. It's really easy to say that, but sometimes it's harder to actually go out there and do it."