Higher expectations will be the order of the day when the All Blacks began training camp for 2017. Forty players will be in attendance for a January 2017 training camp that be used to create a road map for the next six months that hopefully will avoid some of the pratfalls in 2016, such as a loss to the Irish in Chicago that supplied a first-time blemish to the record of Kiwi rugby.
The camp will include all the players from this year and some of the wounded, including Sonny Boy Williams and Nathan Harris.
The camp will be a combination of fitness testing, game plan understanding in the aftermath of Coach Eddie Jones dismal assessment of the All Blacks’ prospects before their defeat at the hands of the British Lions.
It is all leading up to the squad being ready for the first Test in June in the hopes of avoiding being caught cold and overconfident once again.
June can be a problematic month, what with players coming out of Super Rugby, where a different attitude and a different approach to necessities often make the transition problematic.
Hansen says that not only will the January camp help prepare the players for the rigours beginning in June, but will also give them a leg up going into Super Rugby.