Rugby World Cup 2015 - SBW: Getting up for Boks will be easy

Sonny Bill Williams of the All Blacks speaks during a New Zealand All Blacks media session. Photo / Getty Images.

The All Blacks are good at backlash-type performances after an ordinary one - think the Eden Park drubbings of the Wallabies over the last two years - but Sonny Bill Williams has no doubts his side can lift again for the Springboks after scaling the heights against France in their World Cup quarter-final.

"That's the easy part this week," he said. "It's a Rugby World Cup semifinal and the opposition is a very tough one. You know that they're going to be bringing that edge to this weekend's game and we need to combat that by bringing an edge as well.

"It's easy to say that because looking back on past games when the boys have played outstandingly there's probably been a bit of a dip but everything's on the line this week.

We won't have to mentally gear up for that. The boys are already on edge.

"In the weekend you saw an attitude shift. It was live or die footy, you know. This week's going to be the same. We have to bring that mental aptitude and on top of that hopefully express ourselves individually."

If they needed a reminder about the perils of complacency, the All Blacks probably only needed to watch Australia survive a terrible scare in their 35-34 quarter-final victory against Scotland at Twickenham.

The Scots were vulnerable on defence but hung in there by scoring points at the right time and the Boks have the self belief to do the same.

This year the All Blacks followed their 27-19 defeat to Australia in Sydney with a 41-13 annihilation at Eden Park. Last year they drew 12-12 in Sydney before hitting back 51-20 at their fortress.

However, they are fully aware of the stakes and the need to seek improvements this week before their clash against the old foe at Twickenham.

"When you have a great performance I guess there's a tendency to be a bit complacent and you can feel like you've got there," said assistant coach Ian Foster. "I certainly don't think that's the case at all this week. It's pretty special isn't it, a semifinal of a World Cup, so it's been pretty easy to get this group down to earth."