The emotion of closing New Zealand's iconic House of Pain after disappointing performances in Dunedin in recent years has fired up the All Blacks for Saturday's first Test against Wales.

"It should be buried in the appropriate way," All Blacks coach Graham Henry said of the renowned Carisbrook ground, known as the House of Pain because of its reputation as a graveyard for visiting teams.

The All Blacks have lost only five of 37 Tests at the ground since 1908, but in a sharp reversal of fortune two of the defeats have been in the past two years.

South Africa won for the first time from eight starts in 2008 - in what was initially thought to be the last Carisbrook Test - and France followed in their first outing on the southern turf last year.

"We've sort of stuffed up the record, haven't we," said Henry, reflecting on the history of Carisbrook, the scene of two of the three defeats suffered by the All Blacks in 36 home Tests since he took over.

Wales, the only major rugby nation not to have played a Test on Carisbrook, and who have never won a Test anywhere in New Zealand, get their chance this weekend.

But they will face an All Blacks side determined to close the historic ground by re-igniting their winning way.

"It hasn't been much of a fortress for us the last couple of years, unfortunately. That's got to be our aim to really put in a big one and leave it on a good note," said assistant coach Wayne Smith.

"We'd like to leave that ground with fond memories," added Henry.

The All Blacks can take heart from the way they launched their 2010 season with a 66-28 demolition of Ireland last week and introduced six new players to Test rugby.

However, Wales are not reading too much into the margin after Ireland spent most of the game down to 14 men when Jamie Heaslip was red-carded.

When Ireland flyhalf Ronan O'Gara was sinbinned the All Blacks posted 21 points from three converted tries in the 10 minutes Ireland were reduced to a cast of 13.

But as the game wore on, the All Blacks lost cohesion and the under-strength Irish were able to score three late tries of their own.

"Everyone's pretty confident at the moment," said Wales prop Adam Jones.

"If (the All Blacks) can blow Ireland away that well, you're a good side... but in that second half Ireland played pretty well and we know we've got some pretty dangerous players in the backs."

Wales coach, Warren Gatland, also believes his side could be on the verge of overturning a wretched history in New Zealand after losing 31-34 to South Africa on the way out here.

"A lot was made of it (the loss to the Springboks). People said we played a second-string South African team but then they comfortably beat France in Cape Town," Gatland said.

"People have discounted our performance but we've got to build on that in terms of confidence and self-belief and what we can create."

On the other side of Dunedin a 30,000-seat state-of-the-art stadium is under construction - New Zealand's first rugby venue with a roof and scheduled to host three matches during next year's Rugby World Cup.

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