After defending the Eden Park fortress for another year, the All Blacks are now shifting their mindset to the upcoming long-term stay in Australia for this year's Tri-Nations.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster spoke to media today after yesterday's 27-7 win over the Wallabies and while he initially kept details close to his chest, Foster said the team will be flying out later this week.
"We head off on Sunday morning," Foster said.
Just who will be on the flight remains to be seen though with Foster and his management wary of taking too many players with them initially.
"I'll let you know that in the next few days," he added.
"Over the next couple of days, we've just got to get a final injury report and just make sure we're really clear about who's going - the goal is to take as less as possible to Australia because we're keen for players to stay back and play [in the Mitre 10 Cup].
"But we've also got to make sure that we have sufficient cover for those first few Tests."
Foster added players may also stay behind initially for family reasons.
"We've also got some babies due and we'll get some more information about whether a few players may miss that first Test and join the next one."
The current travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia has mixed restrictions with Kiwis travelling to certain places in Australia not required to self-isolate on arrival currently, while coming here still requires two weeks of quarantine and the borders remain open only to New Zealanders.
Foster said they have to keep those things in mind going forward.
"Because you can over there and just play, it's easy to take players over but the issue is if you take too many players over early to cover one Test or something then they're stuck over there because if you bring them back they've got to quarantine for two weeks and they're not really much use to Mitre 10 Cup teams after that."
Foster said he expects Joe Moody and Peter Umaga-Jensen to be available to travel if needed after the pair suffered head knocks yesterday.
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