The All Blacks are eager to put the lessons from their record defeat to South Africa into action after arriving in Nuremburg, Germany, for a pre-World Cup training camp.
Ian Foster’s team, beaten 35-7 at Twickenham on Saturday, will be based in Bavaria for the camp which will take in visits to their apparel and boot sponsors Adidas. The company has its headquarters and main factory in the area.
Halfback Aaron Smith told 1News reporter Kimberley Downs on arrival at Nuremburg airport: “We were all pretty disappointed about the weekend. The positive is that we’re now on to the real thing. We’ll take the learnings from the game but the excitement is there to finally get into it.”
The All Blacks, beaten five tries to one at Twickenham in their worst ever defeat, were welcomed by a Kiwi family living in Germany – not a country immediately associated with rugby.
Asked about the anticipation levels ahead of the team’s first World Cup match against France in Paris on September 9, Smith said: “It’s exciting – this is the first step in the process. To get to Germany, I’ve been to the Adidas factory before and it’s an amazing place.
“Obviously [we face] another week of hard work and team bonding.
NZ is in Bavaria for a pre-World Cup training camp, on the heels of Saturday’s 35-7 defeat at Twickenham. (Source: 1News)
“It’s nice to be in Germany. I still can’t get over the heat. It’s been amazing coming from a New Zealand winter. London was outstanding and Germany, even though it’s a bit cloudy today, it’s still warm. Can’t wait to get into some work.”
The All Blacks remain hopeful of a good result at Scott Barrett’s judicial hearing for two yellow cards at Twickenham. Barrett’s hearing is scheduled for overnight NZT.
Any ban would rule him out of the France match.
In the meantime, Smith and his teammates are looking forward to visiting the Adidas factory and getting their hands on the newest gear.
“There are a lot of creative people there,” he said. “It’s where they do all the designing and all the stuff around our jerseys and boots. It’s a big old process and I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with the boot design and testing, and with the jersey as well.
“It will be cool to see that and for the other boys to see that too.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff that we want to put in place before the World Cup. We’ll train together and obviously at the Adidas factory we’ll get some gears as well.”
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