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Published 17:33 28 Jun 2022 BST
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Jordie Barrett of New Zealand is tackled by Garry Ringrose Joey Carbery of Ireland. (Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"I do feel like they're not the best version of the All Blacks, this side, but they're still the All Blacks. I was on a three-Test tour at the end of the 2012 season, and it ain't pretty. It is tough, at the end of a long season. That one culminated in that 60-0 result in Hamilton. "So, I'm a little bit... look, I hope I'm wrong but there's one part of me that we're going to get pumped in one of these games. If we rotate in these midweek games, which we have to, and go full metal jacket at the weekend, I think we could lose all five games."That take from the former Ulster and Ireland centre elicited an, "Oh, my God, Darren!" from the more optimistic Greg O'Shea. Cave was not swayed from his line of thinking. "I'm not saying it will happen," he argued, "I'm just saying it could.
"If you take a tanking in one of the games, what does that do for your overall thinking, going into a World Cup? If they get beaten by 50, or something, even if the rest of the games are close. "It just think it has been a really long season, and they've played a lot of rugby, and I think New Zealand are going to be better than a lot of people reckon they will be, because they're New Zealand."So convincing was Cave in his argument that O'Shea did concede he was worried, himself, and reckoned the All Blacks would be 'flying it'. Andy Farrell said he desperately wanted a long tour like this one - five games in four weeks - to see what players he can rely on, and what ones he may need to jettison, heading into a 14-month window that will end at the 2023 World Cup.
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