I think we've poked the bear - Joe Schmidt

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt says he and his men are wary of the wounded All Blacks who will come back 'full-strength' and 'fully-loaded' to avenge their 40-29 defeat at Soldier Field in Chicago on 5th of November.

Schmidt says his team will try and stay away from all the media hype as they prepare for the highly anticipated Saturday’s rematch with New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

The Irish scripted their first-ever victory over the All Blacks in 111 years of trying after scoring five tries against four.

"I think they'll come full-strength, fully loaded; maybe we surprised them a little bit in Chicago," said Schmidt.

"I read that they didn't really look back too much at the defeat to us before playing Italy this weekend. Well, they have that game done and now they will look at us over the next few days and they'll have a really good plan.

"They are extremely well coached and incredibly well prepared physically, and I think the rate they play at if they have the ball, you're under pressure if they've got it. And I think they'll have more access to it if they've got their second-row back."

Schmidt aware of the build-up to the game believes his men will be well prepared for whatever challenge the All Blacks throw at them.

“It [the hype] doesn't bear thinking about for me,” he said.

“We will just try to get back out there really well rested, really well prepared and hopefully that is our part of the deal. And I know what other people will bring. I think that will be a jam-packed Aviva with lots of volume and we will try, I suppose, to live up to deserving that.”

Schmidt, who had a word with Kieran Read after the Chicago clash, says the All Blacks skipper was certainly hurt after getting his name on the wrong side of the history books.

“We would love to back it up,” he said. “Within the group we had real frustration coming off that South African tour because we felt that we had missed an opportunity.

“I've massive respect for [New Zealand captain] Kieran Read. I spoke to him briefly after the game. I'm not sure that he's captained a losing All Blacks side and I know that it hurt. To a degree I think we've poked the bear. I've no doubt that they will come out mentally. I don't think they will be any more aggressive than they normally are but I just think they'll be sharper and to be honest, there were probably a couple of times at 33-29 where they put balls down or we were in trouble.

“Games swing on those. If everything they do sticks we'll find them very, very hard to contain.”