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.<\/p>\n
New Zealand and Ireland go head-to-head on Saturday, almost nine years to the day that Joe Schmidt\u2019s men produced a stunning 40-29 victory at the same venue.<\/p>\n
Much has changed since then, with the Irish<\/a> going on to become one of the best sides in the world and having a much improved record against the All Blacks<\/a>, but Andy Farrell\u2019s outfit will be looking to repeat that same Chicago trick this weekend.<\/p>\n However, this Irish squad have not been together since the Six Nations due to the British and Irish Lions series in July and August.<\/p>\n Andy Farrell\u2019s return<\/p>\n Head coach of the Lions\u2019 2-1 victory, Farrell<\/a>, also returns as Ireland\u2019s leader having missed the Six Nations and mid-year tour.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Ireland are more underdone. At the end of the day, they had a scattering of Lions,\u201d Marshall said on the GBRANZ podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that\u2019s quite interesting around this is Andy Farrell\u2019s back in charge but he didn\u2019t select a lot of his Irish players throughout that Lions series that he knows a lot about.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s just throw one name out there into the stratosphere: Bundee Aki. Didn\u2019t start him, started him, brought him on but wasn\u2019t quite so sure. It was quite unusual.<\/p>\n \u201cJames Lowe was another one. I don\u2019t know whether that was external pressure, because they weren\u2019t losing after all, so does that make them settled or unsettled?\u201d<\/p>\n