Wales captain Ryan Jones has heaped praise on the Welsh squad in New Zealand preparing for the international encounter with the All Blacks on Saturday.
He said the players will not be focusing on the history of the fixture but will concentrate instead on the “here and now.”
Jones declared: ”It’ll be incredibly tough because we’ve got a huge amount of respect for the All Blacks. But we have come here with a great group of players and we will go into the game full of confidence.
“What happened years ago has no bearing on this group. There are a lot of young players here who do not have that history in their minds and we have just got to deal with the here and now.
“It’s a great place to be even though it’s the toughest place in the world to play rugby. All the boys are looking forward to it.”
The skipper was speaking in Wellington where the squad is based before flying to Dunedin on Thursday for the Test on Saturday. On their first full day in Wellington the squad worked through their most intensive and physical training session so far on tour.
They held the session at night to replicate the kick off time for the Saturday evening international.
Jones added: ”The All Blacks are probably the most complete team in the world and they are tactically and technically excellent so we will all have to give 100 per cent. We are in their backyard and we have got to give it our best shot.
“We will have to make sure we take all our opportunities and close things down as quickly as we can when we have to. We’ve had some pretty good training days and the boys are pretty geared up now.”
