An All Blacks-South Africa pre-Rugby World Cup 'friendly?' That's not the case so far as loose forward Ardie Savea believes.
Savea said as the team prepared in London for Friday evening's game at Twickenham that there was no such word as "warm-up" for the All Blacks.
"It's not part of our vocabulary at the moment. We want to go out there firing and banging. For me, every Test is hard, and that's just an internal gut feeling I put upon myself, and the standard in every game is hard and tough and you want to get prepared for that and playing this game against South Africa leading up to what is next is important."
Savea said South Africa would have the first 20 minutes of their last Test against the All Blacks in Auckland on their minds and would be firing to nullify the New Zealanders. In the second half at Mt Smart, the All Blacks let South Africa back in the game at the breakdown, so on Saturday, they would focus on their skills in those areas.
At the same time, the All Blacks knew that if they started in the way they did in their last game against Australia, it would be a long day at the office at Twickenham.
"They pose a massive threat around their physicality, their threats around the breakdown, so we've got to nail our structures, our game plan and be ready for things that go our way."