KEY POINTS:
Graham Henry calls New Zealand's task against the Springboks on Sunday as the biggest challenge in world rugby but admits selecting the All Blacks' side didn't take long.
Isaia Toeava for Leon MacDonald on the substitute's bench was the only change from the 22 that beat Australia in Auckland 12 days ago.
"He has played quite a lot at wing and fullback and is pretty comfortable there. He is a good man to have on the bench, particularly the way we want to play the game," said Henry.
The luxury of choosing an unchanged team was something that might have begun to slip from the memory of the All Blacks coach but Henry warned that not everything could be the same as in Auckland.
"We learned from Sydney that we had to change the way we played and we did a lot of research before the Auckland game," he said. "But we can't play exactly the same way against South Africa as we did against Australia in the Auckland test. Every team is different and they have a different defensive system."
Yet it could be that the All Blacks will be best served by retaining the more structured game plan, with kicking for position, rather than the frenetic headless chicken model unwisely employed in the first Wallaby clash. A test against South Africa is usually more conservative: this one could prove to be an old fashioned-type bruising, a physical contest for Southern Hemisphere supremacy.
Henry admitted yesterday that he cut his rugby teeth on such contests. "The first test I ever saw was in 1956 at Lancaster Park, Christchurch. South Africa had played the All Blacks in 1949 in South Africa and won the series 4-0 so our country was in mourning for a while. So in 1956 when we won the series 3-1, everybody was proud again.
"It has always been the same; these have been huge contests between the two countries. That is great and long may it continue. This is the No 1 rugby game probably in the world [although some in the Northern Hemisphere might call us arrogant for holding that view] because of the history and tradition and because South Africa are such a great side.
"That is our background, that is how we have been brought up in New Zealand and I assume it is the same in South Africa."
Henry's All Blacks are a different side with Richie McCaw fit and in form.
The All Blacks coach re-iterated his philosophy for this Tri-Nations competition, saying they had worked hard to try and settle on a side, which he felt they had now done.
"The game has changed. Sometimes, it takes our guys until Thursday to recover from a test match the previous Saturday. They are not going to play well the next week if they're in that state so sometimes you are better off playing a guy who might not quite have the same ability but is fit and fresh, mentally and physically. That is common sense."
New Zealand's 14-day gap between tests had enabled them to retain the same side for Cape Town, he added.
As for the new laws, Henry again conceded that Robbie Deans had out-thought him and his coaching assistants in Sydney.
"In fairness, he had been coaching under the new laws for 20 games: we had had two. But in Auckland, the ball was in play for 39 minutes (against a previous average of 25-26) and that means the game is going to require different athletes under these laws plus some pretty astute substitutions. It is something you are learning as you go along."
