Ireland have won two of their last four tests against the All Blacks since breaking their 111-year drought in 2016 and Whitelock said it was a contest New Zealand looked forward to.
"This week is massive. If you look back over the last five or six times we've played Ireland, they are big games and big occasions," Whitelock told reporters.
"Especially here (in Dublin), it's an amazing atmosphere that is hard to describe.
