They may not be the world champions, but they remain the sport’s ultimate challenge.

Andy Farrell knows them well but hasn’t faced them as a head coach before. His success in these fixtures is well-documented and he is smart enough to remain respectful of the opposition.

Yet, his message to his players yesterday was to go out and impose yourselves on the All Blacks and see where it takes you.

“There isn’t one or two (standout features of the New Zealand team), there’s probably three or four or five that they’re going to test you with,” he said.

“Like every game, these games they don’t change. They’re won up front. The set-piece battle is absolutely huge and their set-piece is pretty good.

“We back our set-piece against anyone as well so that will tell its own story along the way.

“We all know that they play a quick, expansive game and that sometimes gets in the way of what they’re really about.

“Their game understanding is very good, they don’t overplay a lot.

“I think they’ve learned some lessons along the way, they’re very mature in how they play the game and they want to play off your mistakes. They’re very quick and accurate at delivering that type of game.

“Having said all that, it’s about us this week.

“It’s about us making sure that we take our game towards them. We pay them all the respect in the world because they 100pc deserve it, but it’s about us. Where are we at? Are we brave enough to take our game towards them, and we’ll see.”

Farrell made one change to his starting XV from the side that hammered Japan yesterday as he recalled Iain Henderson for Tadhg Beirne, while Rob Herring was drafted on to the bench ahead of Dan Sheehan.

The All Blacks rotated heavily after a sluggish win in Rome, with Beauden Barrett named at out-half ahead of Richie Mo’unga and Rieko Ioane picked at outside centre with Sevu Reece back on the wing.

Pointedly, coach Ian Foster said he’d been watching Ireland closely in recent months. This is the first of four meetings between the sides in the next eight months.

Farrell believes playing the All Blacks will give his side a far better gauge of where they’re at than facing any other team would.

“We just want to put our game out there. That’s what we should get excited about it,” he said.

“Let’s see where we’re at. If you get too distracted just about the win, then you’re not going to perform. It’s about how we deal with the moments that are in front of our faces and there will be plenty of them, plenty of ups and downs. We’ll see how far we’ve come.

“We’ve got to play all sorts of ways because we know that they can.

“We don’t quite know what their plan is. We know what we’re planning to do but we’ve played the All Blacks plenty of times now and you saw against Wales a couple of weeks ago, they took it to Wales in the middle with the pick and go.

“The forwards were nice and dynamic and (Ardie) Savea was hard to stop.

“They did that on the first Test of the Lions tour in Auckland – they played a similar type of game. Then they played an expansive game, a more traditional style of game for them in the quarter-final.

“So we’re expecting all of that. We’re expecting a blend of that. That’s why they’re the best team in the world – because they’re able to mix it up.”

For Farrell, who will let his players make their own decision about how to face the haka, this is about something other than fear.

“We get to play them four times and this is the first one, this is the place to be: Saturday afternoon at the Aviva. If you’re an Irish rugby player, this is the place to be. It’s an opportunity,” he said.

“Go and give it your best shot.”

That’s the mission.