KEY POINTS:
The All Blacks want to add more smarts to their performance, confident they can again match the Springboks for muscle in the second Tri-Nations rugby test here tomorrow.
Assistant coach Wayne Smith said striking the right balance between brain and brawn was hard in any test, let alone
against the South Africans who brought an intense physicality.
Despite New Zealand's 19-8 win in Wellington last Saturday, Smith hopes to see an improvement at Carisbrook.
"We played with passion and we stood up physically but we weren't complete by any means," he said.
"It was an intense game and sometimes in those physical games you lose some of the clinical nature of your play.
"It was good, we took the win but there were a lot of areas where we've just got to keep making improvements."
Defensive options were a particular concern, with players often making the wrong call about whether to hit a ruck or stay out now that the Experimental Law Variations are back.
Smith doesn't want to make too big a point of the skill element as it can detract from the physical mindset that will be needed against a Springboks side clearly stinging this week.
The world champions have been widely criticised at home for their high error count when keeping the ball in hand last weekend but Smith doubts they will try to further tighten their approach tomorrow.
"They certainly weren't way below what they're capable of physically," he said.
"I felt they played more expansively than they've played against us the last four years. And as we know, the more expansively we play, the more prone we are to errors."
The Springboks surprised by making few surprises to their team yesterday, introducing veteran fullback Percy Montgomery for Conrad Jantjes and winger JP Pietersen for Odwa Ndungane while hooker Bismarck du Plessis replaces injured captain John Smit.
Smith had predicted first five-eighth Butch James would pay for his sub-par display in Wellington and be replaced by Francois Steyn.
He quickly revised his assessment upon learning of James' retention.
"We've got a huge regard for Butch obviously. He's been a World Cup winner, he's been a big competitor for a few years.
"And he's got his own challenges. He's a clever kicker of the ball, he's quite a different player."
There weren't changes at prop or loose forward as many had anticipated, not that Smith said it would have altered the focus on his own team.
Opposition selection rarely captured the attention of the All Blacks coaches, he revealed.
"It would only do that if there was an extreme (selection) either way, like an extreme superstar one way or an extremely weak player another way," he said.
"You seldom get that at this level, they're all pretty good players so we tend to look at ourselves. We've got a lot on our plate."
There are 10 starting Springboks players tomorrow who started when the teams played out a classic test here three years ago, the last test Carisbrook hosted.
New Zealand won 31-27 courtesy of a late try by hooker Keven Mealamu.
The seachange in All Blacks rugby since is underlined by the retention of just four of their players - fullback Mils Muliaiana, loose forward Rodney So'oialo, lock Ali Williams and prop Tony Woodcock.
The Springboks arrived here last night to freezing conditions and both teams were to undergo light runs today.
After that, coaches from both teams and Australian Matt Goddard were to meet privately to thrash out differences on the vexed issue of scrum engagement.
The Springboks accused the All Blacks of illegalities there in the first test, sparking a controversy that has dominated this week's buildup.
- NZPA
