ABs expected to adopt clinical approach
By RICHARD KNOWLER - The Press | Saturday, 14 July 2007


If the All Blacks lose tonight, a cloak of depression will settle around Jade Stadium, Jake White says.

"It would be a disaster in Christchurch," the Springboks coach prophesied this week.

While a defeat to White's B team would not be greeted with much enthusiasm, it is highly unlikely the city's depressed population would march to Godley Head and toss itself off the cliffs into the Pacific Ocean.

For the All Blacks coaches, though, a defeat would be a massive worry.

Although the Springboks have 260 test caps between them, this is a side full of players on the slide.

The All Blacks do not fear them and should be far too potent for a seriously depleted outfit that will likely execute a game plan based around first five-eighths Derick Hougaard's kicking game.

Despite having an edge over the Springboks in recent years, rarely have the All Blacks gone into a match against the old enemy where victory has been so expected.

For New Zealand rugby romantics, there is little comfort in this sad scenario.

By leaving 20 blue-chip players at home as part of his drive to win the World Cup, White has belittled what could have potentially been a classic encounter between two of rugby's greatest rivals.

He has also diluted the value of the Tri Nations.

The paying public are no fools; it is unlikely the 36,000-capacity stadium will be sold out.

After his side's 15-20 loss to the Wallabies in Melbourne a fortnight ago, All Blacks coach Graham Henry believed the players' minds were elsewhere.

Yesterday he went through the usual pre-match bluster as he promoted the South Africans' chances, but deep down he will be disappointed if his men do not clinically put them down.

With next week's crucial Bledisloe Cup test against Australia their last match together before the World Cup, Henry will be eager to see a vast improvement in the handling skills, defence, zest at the breakdown and lineout execution.

"They're in a situation where they've got nothing to lose and I think they're pushing that button," Henry said about South Africa. "If they get beaten they're expected to get beaten. If they win, well, that's marvellous for them.

"I don't think they've got any acid on them and Jake's playing that game."

But this encounter will fall well short of the spectacle that was played out in Durban three weeks ago.

While not always pretty, that test showed what these matches between the old foes were all about.

The physical South Africans aimed to bash anything that moved in black for the first 50 minutes before running out of juice and being overtaken by an All Blacks side that cleverly played at pace and was willing to move the ball.

White will again call on the glory of the green and gold jersey to exhort his players to greater heights, but it is difficult to see how his backline can compete if they are forced to play a cat and mouse game.

The Springboks pack will win its share of possession, Hougaard will hack it down field and will then hope the All Blacks cough the ball up in their own danger zone.

The South Africans will need to be more accurate in the tackle and slow their opponents' ball down without being penalised by referee Stuart Dickinson.

Predictably new Springboks skipper and lock Johann Muller issued some fighting words yesterday.

"It's funny, last week in Australia we were the B team and I see now this week we are almost the C team," he said.

"It's fantastic when people write you off and you can show them wrong on the field on Saturday. That's what we want to do."