The All Blacks are preparing to run the gauntlet of protests in Buenos Aires over the next couple of days as striking citizens take to the streets to denounce austerity measures by the government.
Security services have stated that "public gatherings" should be avoided "due to the risk of low-intensityviolence".
Players and management have been assured of their safety by police and the New Zealand embassy but it all adds a new layer of difficulty to a week the team have to get right as they prepare to respond to their defeat by South Africa in Wellington with an improved performance against the Pumas at the Estadio José Amalfitani on Sunday.
The protests coincide with a two-day general strike which will rob the All Blacks of their usual mode of transportation to and from training through the often congested streets – a large bus. Instead, they will travel separately in small vans accompanied as usual by police motorcycle outriders who will give constant updates on potential trouble ahead.
In Buenos Aires the All Blacks always travel with a large and well-armed police presence, and, fortunately for them, that won't change. It is the striking bus driver and potential unrest which is creating the issue.
"It's a new challenge for us," said All Blacks manager Darren Shand. "We've just had a meeting putting together the contingencies. It's pretty widespread so it's hard to know what to expect. Hopefully we have a pretty good plan in place to get to and from training. We have good police support so that's encouraging and we have several routes we can use should one be blocked.
"We're going to go in smaller vehicles … with the police curtain around it, I suppose, going with us, and motorcycle outriders ahead of us, we'll have a pretty good idea where any trouble is so we can immediately turn and go elsewhere."
The All Blacks and Pumas packs. Photo / Photosport
There was a suggestion from head coach Steve Hansen that the normal training session on the Tuesday could be moved to Wednesday, which is normally the players' day off. But with Thursday generally a double session for the All Blacks and perhaps their most important day of the week, a rest day in between is seen as the ideal scenario.
"Tuesday is an important session for us, a big session," Shand said. "If we can get everyone there we'll have a couple of hours to reassess things while training is going on and make some good, solid decisions.
"Steve did say when I mentioned it to him on Friday that 'we'll must move it to Wednesday', but the local intel I've got is really strong and the New Zealand embassy have been really helpful around it.
"Everyone tends to think the roads are going to be empty. The intel we've got is that the protests will be limited to a few areas rather than everywhere. Being Kiwis, we'll give it a crack and put some plans around it and hopefully it will all work out."
Unions in Argentina have staged rallies and strikes recently to protest the country's economic conditions and policies introduced by the conservative administration of President Mauricio Marci.
The players have been visible around the streets of the city as they seek to recover from their long flight from Auckland but they will be on a higher alert now and aware too that the mood on the streets can quickly change.
