Japan defence coach John Plumtree had only given the team one job.

"Our key thing that week was shutting his space down, so we spent a lot of time that week practising it."

The player in question? All Blacks second five-eighth Ngani Laumape. The history books, and Plumtree for that matter, will quickly tell you Laumape scored a hat-trick, and laid on a couple of other tries, as New Zealand beat Japan 69-31 in Tokyo that week.

It was a unique occasion for Plumtree who, as Hurricanes assistant-turned head coach, was more used to exploiting the strengths of Laumape, Jordie Barrett, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Matt Proctor, Gareth Evans, Vaea Fifita and Dane Coles, than the weaknesses.

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"Setting up the cones for warm-up I could see them all looking at me and laughing at me. They probably knew exactly the drills I was going to be doing by the way I set the cones up," a chuckling Plumtree said.

GETTY IMAGES Hurricanes, left to right, Asafo Aumua, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Gareth Evans, Vaea Fifita, Jordie Barrett, John Plumtree, Ngani Laumape, Matt Proctor, Richard Watt and Dane Coles were all smiles after New Zealand met Japan.

"Being away [in Japan] for three weeks and seeing them after the game was a breath of fresh. It was fun but [coaching against them was] not something I'd want to be doing all the time."

It was Plumtree's second, and last, offseason on the Japan staff, working alongside the ex-Highlanders duo of Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown. This year that meant games against a World XV, New Zealand and England, along with plenty of laughs and a bit of trial and error.

Stuff The Hurricanes squad for the 2019 Super Rugby season.

"You're dealing with players that probably are of lesser fitness and skill levels, so the challenge is to get a really good performance out of them and make sure they're well prepared because they don't mind working hard. We work them really hard, give them a lot of coaching, a lot of field time so, for me personally, it's good for my coaching because I have to work harder."

And very satisfying, in its own way. Such as against England when Japan led 15-10 at halftime. Cue England coach Eddie Jones having to introduce a few big guns such as Owen Farrell and Kyle Sinckler.

It was all rather amusing given Jones, a former Japan coach and with a Japanese mother, had said the Brave Blossoms should "go to the temple and pray" they don't get annihilated at Twickenham.

"We did talk about it and it was surprising, but Eddie can be a bit like that can't he? I guess he was in a bit of a chest-out situation because he had a pretty good performance against the All Blacks. If the All Blacks had given him 40 points [instead of wining just 16-15] he probably would've been really quiet that week.

GETTY IMAGES Jordie Barrett, right, and John Plumtree renew acquaintances in Tokyo.

"To be honest with you, the Japanese boys and Jamie, we made fun of those comments rather than use them as motivation," said Plumtree.

While Plumtree is now back at the Hurricanes, the bulk of his All Blacks won't be sighted until late January. Laumape, Jordie and Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Ardie Savea, Fifita and Coles are all on annual leave. Others such as Proctor, who then went on to tour with New Zealand Maori, along with Ben May, are on well-deserved breaks too.

GETTY IMAGES England coach Eddie Jones gave the Japan team a good laugh with his pre-match jibes.

​Laumape, the Barretts, Perenara, Fifita, Savea and Coles will get two All Blacks-prescribed rest weeks during next year's Super Rugby season. Plumtree has submitted some potential dates to New Zealand Rugby and everyone sounds happy with the arrangement.

Milner-Skudder, meanwhile, has been pencilled in for a return to action in early March. He injured a shoulder in the test against Japan, which will be reassessed in January. From there, Plumtree anticipates the wing needing a six to eight-week period to get fit enough to play.