Springbok on the All Black menu

All Black first five-eighths Daniel Carter during training in Wellington this week. Picture / Mark Mitchell

The "Dream It" catchphrase inscribed on John Smit's blue bracelet seems entirely appropriate for the Boks.

It is a dedication towards a children's charity but also will double as a message for the Springboks tonight, who will sink to a third straight defeat unless they find some magical elixir to combat the All Blacks.

The Springbok captain is as bullish as his bangle about tonight's outcome in Wellington; he and coach Jake White are showing the necessary leadership for their predicament.

After the disaster in Brisbane, they have been revived by the pervasive rugby culture in New Zealand. But that guidance and rousing of the Springbok spirit may only protect the cracks in the South Africans' armoury; it may only reduce the margin of victory the All Blacks should put on their foes.

"The psyche of South Africa is that we have probably played our best rugby when our backs have been against the wall," said White.

"That is a weakness we have as South Africans, that we seem to - when we are in the trenches and our backs are against the wall - have a different team coming out."

Even with eight changes and the adjustments that entails, this All Black side has too much panache for the Boks. It was a topic All Black five-eighths Daniel Carter touched on this week when he suggested the Boks were an easier side to combat because they lacked alternate game plans.

The probable choice of Butch James ahead of Meyer Bosman as five-eighths may bring more variety. But brilliance and back-play are words that have not been used together in recent years to describe South African rugby - opportunist, bullish and gritty maybe. Too often without playmakers such as Jean de Villiers or Andre Pretorius, the backs have appeared lacklustre or just an adjunct to the pack. They do not change pace or strategies.

Although the All Blacks also play to their patterns, they also use their instincts: they will allow their natural impulses to flow, they have been encouraged to do so by the coaching staff.

And they will have taken lessons from the way the Wallabies were able to break down the Boks last week. Deep kicks exposed the laboured counter-attack or the fragility of Percy Montgomery and also moved the monster pack around the ground. It caused enough indecision from the rush defence to give space for gifted runners such as Matt Giteau and Lote Tuqiri.

Sensing the Boks will stand up even flatter tonight, the All Blacks will not shelve their attacking plays but will run them from greater depth to sow the necessary confusion.

Conditions could be slippery, while the rulings from referee Joel Jutge may be a lottery.

"We had him in Dunedin last year and he blew outstandingly for 76 minutes," White joked in reference to Jutge and the late defeat his side suffered then.

There will be no mystery about the Boks' plans up front nor the initial task for the All Blacks of combating the visitors' physical fury.

Set-piece stability will fuel the visitors' strategies. They will look to drive lineout ball, use one-off runners to tire the defences, aided by the box kicking of Fourie du Preez.

But their other areas of legitimate attack - outside some likely intimidation - will be restricted. They will attack Anton Oliver's nerve throwing to the lineouts and use the shortside to try to put speedster Bryan Habana into space.

Provided the All Blacks tight five do their business, the loose forward skill of Richie McCaw will come to the fore and the backs will get the quality ball they want.

Precision and discipline will be the All Black catchwords tonight. Continuity will take the Boks out of their comfort zone into areas of frustration where the All Blacks will need to keep control. The lack of matchplay together will be an All Black uncertainty but they have all played recently in wet weather. They are also playing for a crack at the Wallabies next week.