KEY POINTS:
They're lean and mean so how do the Springboks get past the All Blacks, a team they haven't beaten in this part of the world for 10 long years?
As the Springboks stayed in Wellington in the first half of this week, well away from cold, icy Dunedin where the two teams will meet in tomorrow night's second Tri-Nations test, the All Blacks were acclimatising themselves to the snowy wastes of the far south of this country. The Boks didn't arrive until Thursday _ the All Blacks flew in on Sunday.
The trouble with the Springboks' decision is that it offers the wily New Zealand rugby propaganda department more ammunition. They can claim the moral high ground of having arrived at the start of the week, freezing winds, lashing rain and all. The Springboks, by comparison, hurried in late in the week as if they wanted to be anywhere but Dunedin.
The Springboks' problem is that they not only have to beat the All Blacks on the field. They have a similar task in the war of words which invariably goes on before and after every test match. This last week has shown that, by some distance, the All Blacks are better at both.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry came out head and shoulders above his South African counterpart, Peter de Villiers, in this area at Wellington. Henry was cute, psychologically using the build-up last week to his own advantage. Immediately after it, Henry was seizing the moral high ground ready for the Monday morning papers, lambasting Springbok first five Butch James for alleged illegal late challenges on Dan Carter who, it was said, had tried to rough him up.
Well, James made one illegal late challenge and was penalised. What followed was pretty tame. But Henry knew he had to say it publicly on Saturday night or Sunday, ready for Monday's big post-match headlines.
De Villiers, unlike former coach Jake White who was generally available to the media on a Sunday, refused to speak until Monday and finished a distant second to Henry. When de Villiers did launch counter-accusations, it was too late _ the Springboks had lost and the match was far gone. It just looked like sour grapes.
Henry is a wily, proven operator at this game; de Villiers is a novice. He is going to have to learn the crafty tricks of the trade and very quickly. Because even when the Springboks fly out of New Zealand on Sunday night headed for Perth in Western Australia to prepare for next weekend's test against the Wallabies, they're still going to have to be street-cred. Lying in wait in Perth is Australian coach Robbie Deans, another shrewd Kiwi who is a master of propaganda.
Seasoned observers have long since accustomed themselves to the reality of working _ and winning _ in this part of the world.
Former Australian coach Bob Dwyer says, "The New Zealanders don't miss many tricks over there and you have to give as good as you get. If you don't, they leave you for dead. They're as canny as a wagonload of monkeys."
* Peter Bills is a rugby writer for Independent News & Media in London
