All Blacks: Boks lie in wait for underdone side

Springboks lock Bakkies Botha has returned from suspension and is representing South African muscle in its purest form. Photo / Getty Images

It was among their most emphatic rugby wins in South Africa, but last year the spotlight missed the All Blacks.

Instead it shone on Beijing, specifically New Zealand medal heroes Valerie Vili, Hayden Roulston and a clutch of rowers.

The national rugby team celebrated their own Super Saturday hours later on August 17 with a 19-0 win in Cape Town, catapulting them towards another Tri-Nations crown. Tomorrow morning (NZ time) in Bloemfontein the All Blacks are the lead act - a return to club rugby for Daniel Carter perhaps the biggest competition for attention this weekend.

And they will deserve all manner of plaudits if they can topple a Springbok side who still strongly resemble their 2007 world champion model and harbour few apparent weaknesses.

Primed by a hard-fought series win over the Lions, the Africans lie in wait for a New Zealand side who have operated at several cylinders below their best this season. There was improvement on their June efforts in last Saturday's defeat of Australia, but the Wallabies were surprisingly poor.

Since then, the players have barely had time to breathe before arriving in the thin air of the High Veldt, where there has been time for just two full training sessions.

As usual when these two rugby heavyweights square off, the winners will be the team who do the ugly things best, according to All Black coach Graham Henry.

"Professional rugby at the top level is hugely physical and probably the people who have set that standard are the Springboks," he said.

"We respect that and try to match them in that part of the game. If you don't match them, then you get second.

"We just have to come up to that challenge really."

Representing South African muscle in its purest form is lock Bakkies Botha, who missed what was an embarrassing result for the hosts last year in Cape Town.

He has returned from suspension and his intimidation will need to be met in kind by the likes of opposite Brad Thorn if the All Blacks aren't to spend the match on the back foot.

The next question is whether first five-eighths Stephen Donald can shrug off the doubts that continue to nag over his test readiness. Playing at altitude asks questions of any No 10 and another step forward from Donald could make all the difference. Waikato teammate Brendon Leonard is installed at halfback, while Joe Rokocoko comes onto the wing.

Combined with the hard surface at Vodacom Park, it suggests a more expansive All Black style, although Henry rejects suggestions they were too conservative at Eden Park last Saturday.

"If you look at the tackle count, I think we made 110 tackles, I think Australia made 160. So we kept the ball in hand more than the Australians did last week," he said.

"There was a certain amount of kicking in the game but we tried to play more rugby. If history repeats itself, we'll try to play more rugby this weekend as well."

One person quite sure the All Blacks will use width is Springbok great Victor Matfield, the veteran lock keen to see the test turn into a lineout-fest.

"It's an area we see as a strength of ours and we want to attack them," Matfield said. "If we can force them into lineouts it will be advantageous for us. But [Isaac] Ross and [Brad] Thorn did well against Bakkies Botha and I in the Super 14.

"It'll be nice and dry for them, so I'm sure they will try to keep the ball in hand. They have great runners at the back who love to play from broken field. They don't need many phases to break you down."

Bizarrely, ticket sales for the 48,000-capacity Vodacom Park have been very poor, something that improves New Zealand's hopes if the venue lacks a home town atmosphere.

There are a couple of other good omens.

They have won six from six tests under Irish referee Alain Rolland.

Also, they are unbeaten in Bloemfontein tests, having drawn 11-11 with the Springboks in 1960, beaten them 15-9 in 1976 courtesy of Joe Morgan's famous try and swamped Japan by a world record 145-17 in their 1995 World Cup pool game.

Henry's men completed their final full training run in Centurion yesterday before flying to Bloemfontein, where they were greeted by an icy-cold southerly which is expected to linger until close to kickoff.

- NZPA