Former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall insists that there is absolutely no doubt which team is best prepared for the massive clash in Chicago.

New Zealand and Ireland go head-to-head on Saturday, almost nine years to the day that Joe Schmidt’s men produced a stunning 40-29 victory at the same venue.

Much has changed since then, with the Irish going on to become one of the best sides in the world and having a much improved record against the All Blacks, but Andy Farrell’s outfit will be looking to repeat that same Chicago trick this weekend.

However, this Irish squad have not been together since the Six Nations due to the British and Irish Lions series in July and August.

Andy Farrell’s return

Head coach of the Lions’ 2-1 victory, Farrell, also returns as Ireland’s leader having missed the Six Nations and mid-year tour.

In contrast, the All Blacks, despite not effectively playing in a month, should be battle-hardened after three Tests against France and a full Rugby Championship schedule.

Marshall duly believes that the Irishmen have more questions than answers, while he has expressed doubts about the management of the players during the Lions series.

Although there was a very healthy Ireland representation in the Test team, Farrell was not afraid to drop, or simply not select, individuals that he knows well.

“I think Ireland are more underdone. At the end of the day, they had a scattering of Lions,” Marshall said on the GBRANZ podcast.

“The thing that’s quite interesting around this is Andy Farrell’s back in charge but he didn’t select a lot of his Irish players throughout that Lions series that he knows a lot about.

“Let’s just throw one name out there into the stratosphere: Bundee Aki. Didn’t start him, started him, brought him on but wasn’t quite so sure. It was quite unusual.

“James Lowe was another one. I don’t know whether that was external pressure, because they weren’t losing after all, so does that make them settled or unsettled?”

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Scotland star Sione Tuipulotu was preferred to Aki for the first Test with only injury paving the way for the Ireland centre to start the final two.

As for Lowe, Farrell dropped the 33-year-old for the third match against the Wallabies after underwhelming displays in Brisbane and Melbourne.

‘Ireland are way more unsettled’

“The Irish haven’t played because of the Lions series since the Six Nations,” Marshall added.

“I feel in terms of the All Blacks, they’re not unsettled. Ireland are way more unsettled. Obviously [Simon] Easterby was in charge of them and now all of a sudden you’ve got Farrell coming back involved.”

It is not just a lack of game time at Test level which could hamper Ireland but also injuries to key players, as host Andy Rowe explained.

“They’ve got a lot of injuries at the moment as well. You’ve got Joe McCarthy and Mack Hansen who have been ruled out,” Rowe said.

“Caelan Doris hasn’t played since he had shoulder surgery in May so when you talk about being underdone, there’s only one team you could say is underdone going into this game and it’s Ireland by a long shot.”

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