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CAPE TOWN - All Black coach Graham Henry is expecting nothing but a tough battle at scrum time in the Tri-Nations rugby test against the Springboks in Cape Town early tomorrow morning.
The two front rows have a disparity in experience, with the All Black trio of Tony Woodcock, Andrew Hore and Greg Somerville totalling 137 caps.
That figure is more than double the 63 shared among their opposites, Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis and CJ van der Linde.
Mtawarira, the least experienced with just four caps, was brought in for Gurthro Steenkamp, who played both tests in New Zealand last month but was dropped from last weekend's 63-9 romp over Argentina.
However, Henry didn't buy into local media concerns about how the home scrum would fare.
"I'm impressed with the talent and with they've done," he said today.
"They scrummed very well against Argentina and I think they'll go in confident as a scrummaging unit. I don't think it's going to be factor in the test match. I think it will be a fairly even contest."
With no Tri-Nations action last weekend, the All Blacks arrived in South Africa last weekend a day earlier than normal and Henry said preparations had gone well.
The All Blacks sit top of the Tri-Nations table, but cannot afford a slip-up over their final two matches.
South Africa are bottom, but only five points behind, and like Australia have a game in hand over New Zealand. They are also at home for the remainder of the tournament.
Henry described the Newlands test as a pivotal match in the context of this year's tournament.
For the All Blacks, a major focus of their build-up has been the goal of reproducing the rarified level of performance they achieved in humbling the Wallabies 39-10 in Auckland two weeks ago.
Then, the media and public pressure on the team and coaching staff after two successive losses had helped to concentrate minds.
"It's something we've tried to drive this week - backing up," skipper Richie McCaw said.
"I think the guys have realised that. They've looked after themselves during the week. You never really know until you get on the field. Hopefully, it's good."
While the All Blacks have a good record in Cape Town - won five and lost three - they were beaten on their last visit here in 2005, when the Springboks won a brutal encounter 22-16.
McCaw expected another rugged battle to unfold and to involve more than just a furious initial onslaught.
"The whole game will be pretty physical, it's always the way when you play the Springboks," he saidd.
"That's what you enjoy, and after the game, no matter what the score is, you're usually sore. But it never hurts as much when you win."
After two weeks between tests and a slightly longer build-up than normal, McCaw said the All Blacks were raring to go in what will be their first daytime test of the year.
"A three o'clock game will be good," he said.
"It will come around pretty quick tomorrow."
Among the 49,000 spectators at a sold-out Newlands will be the Wallaby squad, who are due to fly into Cape Town tonight.
The Australians play South Africa over the next weekends, in Durban and then in Johannesburg.
- NZPA
