Veteran All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara insists his team are growing stronger as their seemingly neverending rugby odyssey reaches a climax over the final two weeks of their journey.
Since leaving New Zealand in August, the national side has completed a Bledisloe Cup sweep of Australia, wrapped up the Rugby Championship with only a last-gasp loss to world champions South Africa blotting their record, and averaged 68 points in overcoming USA Eagles, Wales and Italy on their northern swing.
COVID-19 has transformed their 2021 campaign into a bizarre test of physical, mental and emotional endurance for the world's No.1 team, but despite the prolonged period away from loved ones, Perenara, 29, is sure the All Blacks are in a great place, as they prepare to face Ireland this week and France beyond.
"The team, especially off the field, are the closest we've ever been, in my opinion, during the time I've been in the environment," he says. "It's been a really unique time for us as a group and something that will build a foundation for us going forward.
"We're really grateful for the time we've spent together, both on and off the field.
"On the field, we're in a really good spot too. We're playing some footy and trying some things that we've tested in our environment that are really exciting for us.
"We're looking forward to growing those sorts of things in our game, so the challenge of playing Ireland this weekend, at home, is something we've all known is on our calendar. In the back of our minds, we've known it will be one of those big games in a big arena, against a really, really good team, and something we're really looking forward to."
Until five years ago, Ireland had never beaten the All Blacks, but since that fateful day at Chicago's Soldier Field, they have repeated that dose - last time the two rivals met at Dublin's Aviva Stadium in 2018. Many of this current squad have vivid memories of those defeats.
Perenara has worn the silver fern since 2014 and has spent most of his international career as understudy to Aaron Smith, often considered the world's best halfback. With Smith missing this campaign on babywatch, his running mate - who was almost lost to NZ Rugby this year - has had to fight off the claims of Brad Weber and Finlay Christie for the No.9 jersey.
All have had ample opportunity to show their abilities, keeping that competition fresh, when it could have easily become a grind.
Since leaving Australia last month, the standard of opposition has been debatable - the 18th-ranked Americans, 14th-ranked Italians and a Welsh side missing many of their frontline players - but Perenara denies the outside notion that the All Blacks have been building towards peak performance for these last two challenges.
"We try and stay at a pretty steady energy level, especially early in the week," he says. "We try to reset, regardless of the result over the weekend, regardless of who we played and who we have to play against.
"I don't think we've been building six tests out for one test coming up. Each week, we genuinely build to peak that week - we come down off that peak on the Sunday and then build towards the next game.
"If I'm completely honest, this week has been like last week and last week was like the week before that."
After spending a season in Japanese club rugby, Perenara admits he has had to adjust back to the demands of international play - but by the far the biggest challenge is time and distance away from family.
"I reckon we're in a pretty good spot," he says. "The hardest bit is definitely missing home, but something we've talked about throughout this tour is giving that time and energy.
"If we tell ourselves we can be totally focused 24 hours/seven days a week for the 15 weeks we're away, it's a lie. We've been more open and honest about the fact that we have to give time and energy to those feelings, and prioritise them at certain times of our day, so when we switch into footy, we've got the focus and energy we need for that.
"Yes, we miss home... yes, we're looking forward to being home, but we deal with those moments in the time we give them each day, when we're talking to our families or the other boys.
"Our training is really competitive, because we've given that other stuff the energy that it deserves."
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