KEY POINTS:
The All Black staff refuse to let the players breathe. Their original plan to announce a test squad before the Super 14 final was scuttled because of adverse publicity but that has not slowed their ideas.
They intend gathering prospective All Blacks whose sides have been eliminated from
the Super 14, for a training camp in Auckland in the week leading up to the final. Instead of having a few days to wind down after a torrid campaign, they will be summoned to get ready for the Irish.
That request will be excused as a way of dealing with commercial, marketing and promotional demands because there is only a week between the Super 14 final and the Irish test in Wellington.
Like much of what is happening in the NZRU, from the bland World Cup review to their sabatical ideas for stellar players, the early All Blacks assembly is embarrassing. Especially after all the adverse reaction to last year's intrusion into the Super 14.
Most involved in the All Blacks this year will already have been chosen by the current panel as, even after all the departures, nearly 40 players in Super 14 have been picked for the national team. They know how the current coaches work, they would benefit more from time off than punching the clock for the All Blacks.
Players are already crying out for space, for time away from the micro-coaching and management which has invaded the sport. They are over-drilled, over-tutored and in many reactions, overseas because of that relentless instruction.
But that excessive approach should have been expected from a mob who intend to allocate "scores" so they can compare players' decision-making. That gem came through in the World Cup review where the authors accepted information from a narrow range of people with vested interests in the NZRU.
That report argued for uniform leadership schemes to envelop the sport, the sort of one scheme fits all approach which they had criticised about the conditioning programme. Rugby's strength comes from diversity not homogeneous systems.
While the report censored some parts, it strangely allowed itself to finger All Black captain Richie McCaw for ignoring a message about dropped goals. Had the All Blacks been weaned off that sort of marionette rugby and got used to making robust decisions as a settled team over time, they would have been more comfortable under fire. But that is too simple in these days where fuzzy concepts like "paradigm shift" are clogging rugby's fading lustre.