KEY POINTS:
The All Black coaching trio will spend a day in Edinburgh before backtracking to Paris to watch their likely quarter-final rivals, France and Ireland, slug it out at the Stade de France.
It will be a demanding reconnaissance mission as Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith will
take their team through a training session in Edinburgh before jumping commercial flights through Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle airport for the late night kickoff.
"We could be meeting one of these teams [the other option is Argentina] in the playoffs so we would like to see how they go," Henry said.
That appointment is sandwiched in a busy few days for the All Blacks who were due to fly, by direct charter, from their Aix-en-Provence base in the south of France after training early today to Edinburgh.
Later tonight the squad will train in the Scottish capital and again tomorrow before Henry and his cohorts make their dash to France and back in time for World Cup obligations on Sunday before their third pool game.
Henry had been surprised at Ireland's lacklustre cup opening as he thought a few months ago they might come through and win their section.
He also said injured lock Keith Robinson would recover from his calf injury to play the final pool match against Romania.
He was training well and had to be stopped from doing too much.
The selectors decided not to risk Mils Muliaina's sore hamstring against Scotland, nor, said Henry, had they chosen their premier XV. They had discussed whether to play their best side but erred in favour of using those like Reuben Thorne who needed to play and resting others.
"We just thought that 30 players were more important than the 15, we have got a good camaraderie going and there is a good feel in the group and we wanted the players to believe they have got a chance to be selected in the top XV," said Henry.
"We did not want to make those decisions at this stage, we did not want to make those decisions until after Romania.
"So there is still room for the guys to put their hands up and be included in the top XV who may not have been included in the Tri- Nations say in the final test in Auckland.
"We have got open minds on that there are a lot of players competing for positions and that's great and we want to keep that feeling going. We don't want to cut that off and select what we might believe is the top XV right now."
Henry thought about 75 per cent of the side picked for Murrayfield would make it through to the team picked for the opening playoff in Cardiff.
Scotland were efficient, had a strong back three and goalkicker and would bring a greater confrontation for the All Blacks who would enjoy playing in the cooler temperatures in Edinburgh.
"It might give us a bit more energy perhaps."
