KEY POINTS:
CAPE TOWN - The Springboks might see Dan Carter as the man to stop, but the All Black playmaker believes the key to the Tri-Nations rugby test in Cape Town on Sunday morning will lie elsewhere.
Carter identified the South African loose forwards as the major danger in a match that is taking on the proportions of a title eliminator.
If the trio of Juan Smith, Pierre Spies and Schalk Burger gained ascendancy, they had the potential to unleash the Springboks' pacy outside backs, such as lethal finisher Bryan Habana.
"It does start up front, but I believe their loose trio is very dangerous," Carter said today.
"They are all great ball runners. If they get momentum, they can create time and space for the likes of Haban a to finish things off."
Burger is back in the side after being rested from the 63-9 win over Argentina last week to help him to recover from a neck injury.
His inclusion at the expense of Luke Watson, who goes to the bench, will add to the physical challenge facing the All Blacks.
Openside flanker Smith will have the extra motivation of gaining his 50th cap, while No 8 Spies fought off the challenge of Joe van Niekirk, who began both tests in New Zealand last month, to retain his spot.
For both teams, defeat at Newlands is likely to spell the end of their Tri-Nations title ambitions and Carter said that realisation meant the All Blacks would adopt an all-out approach.
"There's no point saving ourselves for the next game or anything like that, because we just have to win," he said.
"We'll be throwing everything into it and not holding back in any way."
New Zealand and South Africa have shared their two matches so far this year, the All Blacks winning 19-8 in Wellington, but the Springboks hitting back 30-28 in Dunedin.
De Villiers is reported to have commented this week that what happened at Carisbrook was a case of 14 New Zealand players looking to the 15th, Carter, to guide them out of trouble.
It wasn't a view that had Carter as a supporter.
"You're only as good as your team-mates around you," he said.
"If they provide the platform up front, it makes your job a lot easier. I don't think the guys sit back and wait for one person to make a difference. We all go out there trying to make a difference."
The All Blacks head into the contest on the back of their impressive 39-10 victory over Australia in Auckland, where Carter and halfback Jimmy Cowan's tactical kicking played a key part.
Carter agreed that Cowan's performance with the boot that night took some of the pressure of him.
"It does take the heat off me when I've got guy like that capable of kicking the ball and hitting the spot more often than not."
The All Blacks certainly had plenty of incentive to produce a top performance at Eden Park - they had suffered two successive defeats and were copping flak from fans and the media.
Carter said what was needed now was to back up that effort.
"Our backs were against the wall before the Auckland test so the motivation was really high," Carter said.
"Everything was on the line and that win lifted a huge weight of our shoulders. It's just a matter of us getting the same motivation and that's building through the week."
- NZPA
