Rugby Championship will be a great preparation to World Cup - Ian Foster

All Blacks head coach Ian Foster wants his side to be ruthless in their preparations leading to the Rugby World Cup tournament in France.

The All Blacks will be heading to Argentina on Sunday for the opening game of the Rugby Championship against the Pumas following which they face South Africa in Auckland before kick-starting the Bledisloe Cup game against Australia in Melbourne.

They will also be facing South Africa in a warm-up fixture at Twickenham Stadium on 25th August and Foster believes building the momentum will be key to their chances in the showpiece event.

“It’s always about winning every Test,” Foster said on The Platform.

“I think you can fudge it and say you want to build and say it’s all about the World Cup, and let’s be honest, we all know it’s the trophy that matters the most for us at the end of the year.

“The best way for us to prepare for that… we want to be dominant from Test one.

“We want to use these opportunities ahead of us the Rugby Championship, the Bled, and that game in London against South Africa, to really test our combinations, to challenge ourselves.

“I don’t think you really test yourself well enough if you give yourself a mental out of saying the game doesn’t matter. I think it does matter for us.

“From a mindset perspective, we want to attack, we want to play well, and we really think it’s important for us to do that to climb on that plane and go to France in the right state.”

New Zealand's first game of the World Cup will be against host France on 9th September at Stade de France.</p?