All Blacks captain Sam Cane has conceded his side were "disappointed" with how they played in last week's historic loss to Ireland but they're now embracing the "do-or-die" decider it has created against Ireland.
The All Blacks were humbled in Dunedin 23-12 by the Irish - the first win for Ireland on New Zealand soil - which has now given them the chance to win their first Test series in Aotearoa with this weekend's match in Wellington.
The result saw the All Blacks drop to fourth in the World Rugby rankings on Thursday having lost three of their last four matches with next year's Rugby World Cup looming.
“Absolutely, the situation is not what we wanted," a soaking wet Cane said after training on Tuesday.
"But now we look at it and embrace it.
"It’s a good challenge for us. It’s do-or-die, it’s just like World Cup stuff, so we’re looking forward to it."
The skipper, who along with coach Ian Foster has come under pressure recently, said embracing the pressure was a key part of their response this week.
"The drive is massive," he said. "We were hugely disappointed with what we dished out on Saturday. We need to be so much better. Our drive is the fact we have pride in the jersey, we’re not happy with what we put out and we’ll be working hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
"It’s about channelling our emotions the right way. We’re angry, disappointed in ourselves, but there’s no point dwelling on that performance. We have to pick ourselves up and shift the mindset, highlighting the things we need to get better at. That’s quite energising and exciting, and then we save those other emotions for Saturday night.
"We'll see what we're made of."
Cane said the side were moving on from Saturday's defeat, having identified areas they needed to address in training for Saturday.
"Rugby can be a simple game. We had 27 unforced errors, and that’s just ridiculous," Cane said.
"Our discipline also let us down massively. A lot can change in rugby in seven days, and we have to fix that up. But the belief is strong, the group is tight, and we’re together."
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