Mike Greenaway: Confident Boks at ease as big day approaches

It has been a strange old week for a South African hack in Dunedin, this most un-African of cities. The scarfies have been a source of endless entertainment and the sight of burned-out couches in Castle St, which is a beer-bottle throw from the All Blacks headquarters at the Leisure Lodge, was curious indeed.

The Boks are encamped at the other end of town and as the week has unfolded, visits to the respective camps have been elucidating and mildly surprising.

The South Africans have grown quietly confident, they are steely in their resolve and they are at ease with their date with destiny. The New Zealanders have been a little twitchy.

This change in roles takes some getting used to for a reporter who has witnessed every South African loss in this country since the win in Wellington in 1998.

Come to think of it, there could be an omen in there somewhere. That match was the last test at rickety Athletic Park and there is speculation that this is to be Carisbrook's international swansong.

It remains to be seen whether the Boks' relaxed state of mind bears merit because history has repeatedly shown the Boks that an All Black team under pressure responds with an earth-shattering performance.

However, history will also show you that in the modern era, virtually every Springbok team that has visited this country has been beaten before they stepped off the plane.

Not so Jake White's ground-breaking Boks. They have convincingly won the last two games played between the countries and, although these were both played in South Africa, the game preceding them, in Christchurch, was won by the All Blacks in the last second.

White was last year named IRB coach of the year and it is an honour fully deserved when you consider how he has constructed his team out of the rubble of the 2003 disaster.

White, a high school coach for many years, identified a core of youngsters whom he had coached at under-19 and under-21 level (White was in charge of two South African under-21 triumphs in the IRB world championships).

So when he took over from Rudolf Straeuli at the beginning of last year, he swept out the older players who had been psychologically scarred by so many defeats and brought in 10 players under the age of 23, most of whom had enjoyed age group wins over New Zealand and Australia.

White's new team was greeted with usual South African pessimism, but one by one Jake's lads cleared the hurdles.

They were not supposed to win the series against Ireland last year, they did; they were not given a hope in hell of winning the Tri-Nations, yet they are the champions; they were not supposed to win the series against France in June, they did; they were underdogs at Newlands three weeks ago but they won; and they were not favourites in Perth last week, but the victory was secured and with the away victory came another injection of self-belief.

Knocking off milestones has become something of a hobby for this team, and they can bag a whole bunch in one go at Carisbrook. They are playing for the No 1 spot on the IRB rankings; back-to-back Tri-Nations titles would do nicely; they can go down in history as the first Bok team to win in Dunedin; and you would need to have a long dig in the history books to find out when South Africa last beat New Zealand three games in a row.

Getting ahead of ourselves, are we? You bet, although a Springbok victory is certainly attainable.

The Boks know the All Blacks are beatable when put under pressure in the set pieces and then subjected to a helter-skelter, offensive defence.

In essence, this test match comes down to whether the Boks can reproduce on foreign soil the passion and vigour that was too much for the All Blacks in Cape Town and last year in Johannesburg.

* Mike Greenaway is chief rugby writer for the Mercury in Durban