SLIPPERY WHEN WET: All Black TJ Perenara catches the ball during a rain-affected training session in Napier.

Rarely do the All Blacks relish the chance to train in relentless rain and on a sodden pitch.

But when it comes to playing Argentina in New Zealand, those conditions have been a given in recent times, so today’s training at the Napier Old Boys Marist club may prove the perfect dress rehearsal for Saturday’s Rugby Championship test.

“We have a plan A and a plan B, but we have an eye on Saturday’s [forecast] and it looks like it’s going to be reasonably wet later in the week,” backs coach Ian Foster said.

“We’re going in with a plan that we want to play if the conditions are great, but our awareness of plan B is pretty high this week.”

The All Blacks are aware that they played poorly in the wet three weeks ago during a dour 12-12 draw with Australia in Sydney where they kicked too much and struggled with their handling.

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“The rain is always a leveller and we saw that in Sydney, where it was very wet, and some of our skill work dropped to a level that made that game a real bunfight,” Foster said.

“It’s been good training today in the wet. It will prepare us well.

“We went into our shell in [Sydney] in terms of our catch-pass and we started to slow down everything we did, and that means your attack gets nullified.”

Bad weather has hit the Pumas in New Zealand in recent years.

The All Blacks’ 21-5 win in Wellington in 2012 was played on a wild night, while last year’s 28-13 win in Hamilton was played in persistent rain.

Argentina lost 13-6 to South Africa last month in near-monsoon conditions at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

Regardless of the weather, Foster expects the Pumas to vary their game.

“They’re knocking on the door each year,” he said.

“This year, having looked through the tapes of those two games [against the Springboks] in particular, we think they are dramatically improved from last year.

“I’m not sure the words ‘giving South Africa a scare’ are the right way to describe it. They were in control of that game and lost it in the last minutes [33-31].

“We don’t want them to work on that [closing out big matches] because when they get that right they are going to knock someone over.

“There is probably some self-belief there too when you are chasing that [first Rugby Championship] win.

“They probably want it bad. We’ve learnt if you want things too bad you move away from the process.”