Attitude must be right against Boks, urges Henry

Graham Henry

All Blacks coach Graham Henry says his latest selection shuffle plays second fiddle to the attitude of his players if they are to heap further misery on the Springboks in Saturday's Tri-Nations rugby test in Wellington.

Eight of the players who started in the 32-12 opening defeat of Australia will sit in the Westpac Stadium grandstand as Henry seeks to involve as many of his 30-man squad as possible early in the two-month championship.

There is also a safety net. The Springboks are at the lowest of ebbs following their embarrassing 0-49 loss to the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday.

However, Henry was at pains to convince his players, as well as the New Zealand media and public that the visitors will be a reformed beast this weekend.

"It was a bit of an aberration last week. The game got away on South Africa and they didn't get the bounce of the ball, it was a difficult game," Henry said.

"The pride of young athletes from South Africa will be immense, they will play superbly at the weekend.

"I'm hoping our guys are fully aware of that. I'm certainly getting that message (across)."

The All Blacks will start short-priced favourites to win a 20th consecutive home test in the eyes of even the most ardent Springboks supporter.

Henry said it would be hard to read if any complacency was creeping into the camp. "You can't answer that question until Saturday night, how they are mentally about this particular game. The majority have played South Africa a number of times and it's always been a very difficult contest."

Eight new starting faces should inject enthusiasm, Henry believed.

There will be few keener to prove themselves than former captain Reuben Thorne, who will add to his 41 tests on the blindside flank after finding himself out of favour for nearly three years.

Other new starters are lock Ali Williams, prop Neemia Tialata, hooker Anton Oliver, halfback Piri Weepu, second five-eighth Sam Tuitupou and wingers Scott Hamilton and Doug Howlett.

Out go flanker Jerry Collins, lock Jason Eaton, prop Tony Woodcock, hooker Keven Mealamu, halfback Byron Kelleher, second five-eighth Aaron Mauger and wingers Joe Rokocoko and Rico Gear.

"It's very important to keep them on edge, keep them intimately involved in what we're trying to do and that's the major reason for the eight changes," Henry said.

"It's making sure the guys all feel part of it."

His Springboks counterpart Jake White probably wishes he could make at least as many changes but admitted he didn't have the same sort of depth to call on.

White once again bemoaned his lack of say in the way South African Super 14 teams select and use their players, something that wasn't a problem for Henry under the New Zealand system of centrally contracted players.

"We must be crazy not to see the benefits in their system, from which they are getting a lot more return than us," White told South African journalists.

"(In New Zealand) players like Mils Muliaina and Byron Kelleher are told to move to another franchise, they become better players and New Zealand get more competitive teams. Every decision is based on the good of the All Blacks team.

"I don't want to make it sound like all doom and gloom, but the Super 14 is the basis on which I pick from and the five franchises have not performed well."

All Blacks forwards coach Steve Hansen urged that the problems of the South Africans be ignored.

He was wary that the horrors of Brisbane will have had a week to sink into White's men before kickoff.

"They bring a distinct challenge because they've just been beaten up themselves. Their pride will make them a formidable foe," Hansen said.

"They'll be very very angry sitting in their hotel every time they think about that game. They won't need too much motivation other than that."

However, Hansen did admit the Springboks were finding it hard to replace too of their injured forward leaders, flanker Schalk Burger and lock Bakkies Botha.

"Both those guys bring a lot of physicality to the game," Hansen said.

"Having relied on (Burger) a lot to be that guy that's an annoying man at the breakdown, they probably haven't found someone to replace him yet but I'm sure they're working on it."

- NZPA