Nothing sums up New Zealand's global supremacy more starkly than their starting XV to face Ireland on Sunday. This is a potentially historic moment as they aim to become the first team in the professional era to win all their Tests in a calendar year. So what do the All Blacks do? They shrug their shoulders and make seven changes to the side who won last week at Twickenham.

Two of them, admittedly, have been enforced, with Tony Woodcock having injured a hamstring and Dan Carter's sore achilles ensuring the fly-half's six-month sabbatical can start early. Their respective replacements, Wyatt Crockett and Aaron Cruden, will be expected, even so, to ensure a seamless handover and the other five refresh the parts England could not quite reach.

Charlie Faumuina, Luke Romano – the possessor of size 17 boots – and Steven Luatua may not all be household names in Ballsbridge but they are typical of the modern breed of All Black pushing their seniors on to bigger and better things. While this is set to be an 83rd and final Test call for the gnarled farmer-cum-hooker Andrew Hore, the majority will still be around for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. A looming debut off the bench for the 21-year-old Wellington scrum-half TJ Perenara maintains the same relentless, forward-looking theme.

Any Irish relief, therefore, at the absence of Carter, Woodcock, Keven Mealamu, Brodie Retallick, Liam Messam, Owen Franks and Charles Piutau should be swiftly tempered. The debate continues to rage over the finest All Black squad of all time but, increasingly, this squad are burying that question beneath an unanswerable weight of evidence. Since Hansen took over they have played 27 Tests, winning 25 and drawing one with the only defeat coming against England last year.

They are closing fast on John Hart's outstanding team of 1996-97 who won 28 and drew two of its 31 games, stringing together 11 Test victories in 1997 only for a 26-26 draw against England to deny them a flawless year.

New Zealanders, though, tend to elevate the 1987 vintage who blew everyone else apart at the inaugural World Cup and were unbeaten through 34 matches including 12 Tests in 1988 and 1989. Individual comparisons are always problematic but some big names would now be struggling to make a theoretical combined XV. Zinzan Brooke, Wayne Shelford or Kieran Read? Even the brilliant Brooke and the savage Shelford never contributed 15 Test tries (a world record for a No8) as Read has now done.

Conrad Smith or Joe Stanley? At this rate Ben Smith may outstrip them both. John Gallagher or Israel Dagg? Only Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Jones, John Kirwan, Richard Loe and Gary Whetton would be guaranteed places in Hansen's pantheon.

It is all the more remarkable given the All Blacks' remorseless itinerary. "In the last nine weeks we've gone round the world twice and this will be our seventh test in nine weeks," said Hansen, confirming why he felt changes in Dublin were in his side's best interest. "We've had a big, physical game against Argentina, another physical performance in Johannesburg, a lot of running and chasing in Dunedin, then two more physical games against France and England. We need fresh legs and we've got ability sitting there fresh. Why not use them?"

Why not, indeed. It will be particularly interesting to see if the likes of Dagg, Smith, Savea and Cory Jane can maintain their team's strike-rate which stands at 49 tries from 13 Tests in 2013 and reflects the All Black belief that a back is never an idle bystander. "Back play is speed play and speed play comes in three sizes – foot, hand and head," wrote the great former All Black coach Fred Allen, who coached the unbeaten 1967-68 New Zealand tour of Britain, Ireland and France. Of the three he rated speed of thought most highly. Hansen's team, even with Conrad Smith and Carter missing, have faithfully adhered to that dictum.

So what can Ireland do? Pray for the best, one suspects. They can hardly fare worse than against a partly alcohol-fuelled Wallaby side who eased to a 32-15 victory. It seems ages since they lost only 22-19 to New Zealand in Christchurch in the summer of 2012. The following week they were hammered 60-0 in Hamilton and another big loss may unfold if their pack do not front up.

Such an outcome, clearly, is not how Brian O'Driscoll would like his final appearance against New Zealand to be remembered. There have been 13 attempts to beat them, not least the 2001 game – which happened to be Richie McCaw's first Test match when Ireland rattled their opponents more than once and lost by a relatively creditable 40-29.

Overall, though, O'Driscoll has endured far more pain than gain, his early exit in the first Test of the 2005 Lions tour merely the most obvious cause for heartbreak. Ireland and New Zealand have met on 27 occasions since 1905 and, aside from a 10-10 draw 40 years ago, the Irish have fallen short each time. O'Driscoll, set to win a record-equalling 128th cap, and the new Ireland coach Joe Schmidt know from experience that hope and reality inhabit different postcodes. Australia's drink-related antics in Dublin aroused plenty of comment but the All Blacks will have a proper excuse to raise a glass if they do complete a 14th win from 14. Even the hand of BOD is unlikely to stop them.Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); Bowe (Ulster), O'Driscoll (Leinster), D'Arcy (Leinster), D Kearney (Leinster); Sexton (Leinster), Murray (Munster); Healy (Leinster), Best (Ulster), Ross (Leinster), Toner (Leinster), O'Connell (Munster, capt), O'Mahony (Munster), O'Brien (Leinster), Heaslip (Leinster).

Replacements: Cronin (Leinster), McGrath (Leinster), Fitzpatrick (Ulster), McCarthy (Leinster), McLaughin (Leinster), Boss (Leinster), Madigan (Leinster), Fitzgerald (Leinster).

New Zealand: Dagg (Hawke's Bay); Jane (Wellington), B Smith (Otago), Nonu (Wellington), Savea (Wellington); Cruden (Manawatu), A Smith (Manawatu); Crockett (Canterbury), Hore (Taranaki), Faumuina (Auckland), Romano (Canterbury), S Whitelock (Canterbury), Luatua (Auckland), McCaw (Canterbury, capt), Read (Canterbury).

Replacements: Coles (Wellington), B Franks (Hawke's Bay), O Franks (Canterbury), Retallick (Bay of Plenty), Cane (Bay of Plenty), Perenara (Wellington), Barrett (Taranaki), Crotty (Canterbury).

Referee: (N Owens (Wales).