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The All Blacks will call on their recent ability to finish Test rugby matches like a runaway locomotive when they face South Africa on Saturday.
Compelling statistics show New Zealand have become the best closers in the world game, with their record against the Springboks especially impressive.
The two great rivals have barely been separated at halftime in their last five Tests but the All Blacks have then powered away in four of them – with the one exception being their narrow loss at Dunedin last year.
More pointedly, the All Blacks have scored 10 tries in those Tests, with nine coming in the second half and seven of them in the final 14 minutes.
All Blacks backline coach Wayne Smith points to the importance his players place on having a quality reserves bench.
“If you want intensity in a Test match for 80 minutes, you’ve got to have 22 players able to contribute,” he said.
“You can’t have 16, 17 or 18 because at some point you’re going to lose intensity.”
Last year’s season-ending tour, starting with the final Bledisloe Cup Test in Hong Kong, was remarkable for the defensive wall New Zealand would erect after 40 minutes.
They never conceded a try after halftime in any of the six matches and won the second half of them by a combined scored of 87-3.
The All Blacks will on Saturday seek to emulate last year’s 19-0 win in Cape Town, which catapulted them towards another Tri-Nations crown.
Primed by a hard-fought series defeat of the British and Irish Lions, the Springboks lie in wait for a New Zealand side who have operated at several cylinders below their best this season.
There was improvement on their June efforts in last Saturday’s defeat of Australia, but the Wallabies were surprisingly poor.
“Professional rugby at the top level is hugely physical and probably the people who have set that standard are the Springboks,” All Blacks coach Graham Henry said.
“We respect that and try to match them in that part of the game. If you don’t match them, then you get second.
“We just have to come up to that challenge really.”
Representing South African muscle in its purest form is lock Bakkies Botha, who missed Cape Town last year but has returned from suspension.
Five-eighth Stephen Donald will continue to try and shrug off the doubts that continue over his Test readiness, particularly with the challenge of playing at altitude.
Chiefs team-mate Brendon Leonard is installed at halfback, while Joe Rokocoko comes onto the wing.
Combined with the hard surface at Vodacom Park, that suggests a more expansive All Blacks style.
One person quite sure the All Blacks will use width is Springboks great Victor Matfield, the veteran lock keen to see the Test turn into a lineout-fest.
“It’s an area we see as a strength of ours and we want to attack them,” Matfield said.
“If we can force them into lineouts it will be advantageous for us. But (Isaac) Ross and (Brad) Thorn did well against Bakkies Botha and I in the Super 14.
“It’ll be nice and dry for them, so I’m sure they will try keep the ball in hand. They have great runners at the back who love to play from broken field. They don’t need many phases to break you down.”
The All Blacks are unbeaten in three Bloemfontein Tests, which include a draw and a win over Japan at the 1995 World Cup.
Knives Out
Roar Guru
NZ made a lot of unforced errors. Simple.
Jolly Jupes
Guest
Jerry G - agree that arbitrary refereeing is a major problem. The ELVs were designed to minimise the game of stupid laws that should not affect the course of the match. Difficult to coach for the referees bents and it raises the real question that in rugby union referees have too much say in the outcome of the match. Our competitors have simpler games that reduce the impact of the referee. This is no doubt a major negative in terms of the status and appeal of the game
Jerry G
Guest
The scrum put ins were crooked the same reason Baxter bound on the arm last week, most refs simply don't call it. In fact, Rolland didn't even call it all the time - have a look at some of the other feeds (from both teams) that he let go. I'm not saying the NZ scrum was dominant, just that the crooked feeds are neither here nor there when considering how the scrums were going.
Jolly Jupes
Guest
OJ - does not say much for the Wallabies I agree with Fred - if the scrum was so good then why put it in crooked - I would put this in the bucket with the baxter penalties - makes not difference to the result of the game. If the scrum was under pressure and the opposition hooker did strike then it would make a difference - just an old IRB favourite that keeps the law book valid but does not really alter the game, just like the tighthead bind being two centimetres wrong
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
Fred -- Leonard made some stupid mistakes, so did Eaton, Weepu and Tialata. This All Blacks side hasn't strung together two good performances all year. You could even argue that they haven't strung together two good halves. Makes you wonder why the other sides aren't capitalising.
fred
Guest
sure jerry leonnard was just one of many with poor technique then;stupid if scrum so solid but not as stupid as baxter apparently ,tho similar result
Jerry G
Guest
Fred - the scrum has sod all to do with crooked feeds, that was just poor technique from Leonard.
fred
Guest
ab lineout terrible,scrum if dominant why penalised for crooked feeds.kick offs direct to matfield dumb,backline moves?.goalkicking good;individual skills lacking;back 3 combo poor;nonu easily nullified and unipolar.. mccaw not back to his best. cannot expect abs to perform at altitude with so little turn around;next week will be a fairer contest if the brains devise tactics to neutralise the bok .the lions exposed bok weaknesses surely a template. agree with you lion red knives yeah watched the game saw it differently forgive me
Lion Red
Guest
Well deserved win to the Boks. Thought Heinrich Brussow played outstanding. Have to agree with van der Merwe that the scoreline flattered the AB's. Bring on Durban!
van der Merwe
Guest
The final scoreline flatters the Blacks (who, admittedly, were tenacious). For a true reflection on the their first half performance, the Boks should have (and would have had it not been for Pienaar's kak kicking) entered the second half with a 20 point lead. On the other hand, the lack of cohesion in the backline when Steyn came on was all too obvious. What is a Snor to do?
van der Merwe
Guest
I did notice a distinct lack of collapsing scrums...
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
All I noticed about the referee was that it was one of those performances were he favours one team in the first half and the other team in the second.
tarpo
Guest
Did any of you guys notice the binding in the scrums? It is a good thing that Mr Joubert was not in charge this week, because there could have been an awful lot of penalties awarded to both sides. Gee it would be nice to have some consistnecy in this area from the Refs.
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
Pothale, The All Blacks made a lot of mistakes, conceded a lot of penalties and never really got into a rhythm, but when they had some possession and territory, they scored points, so it really wasn't that bad a loss and something to build from. The best thing you can about the Boks is that it was a controlled performance. A lot of their forwards put in big games, but that was about it. All their backs do is loiter offside and look for intercepts. The All Black backs were perhaps a little guilty of trying to attack without any sort of platform, but they looked slightly better than their previous couple of games. How long before Henry realises Weepu and Mealamu should be starting?
Hemjay
Guest
South Africa were the better team on the night and deserved the win. The All Blacks continue to start off slowly and it's very poor and should not continue to happen, they are making the game tough on themselves. The lineout is a shambles and maybe it's time Mealamu is giving a start and Hore dropped to the bench to be used as an impact player. The second half was a huge turnaround and the last try to the Boks was very fortuitous hardly the work of good team work as KO has pointed out already. What irked me was that everytime the ABs got back to within striking distance they would then give away penaklty at the other end enabling the Boks sharpshooters to nail another goal and pull away again. In all the Boks were good but hardly convincing, a 9 point win over a team who has had a 6 day turnaround and then playing a game on the High Veldt is notvery impressive. I don't think the boys did too badly at all and they will improve and I believe South Africa knows this and their fans including the mouth Greg Smith are worried. I think we will see some big scores posted against the Boks on their away games.
CronullaKiwi
Guest
Didnt do ourselves any favours wth that 1st half effort. Came better second. Very tough turn around for us and I feel next weeks game is the better chance of the two, confident of a victory there. Great to see the backline going well again.Well done boks.
fred
Guest
knives,ok.but im confused how this strategy playing to strengths was so poor when you suggest bok werent much chop. the trouble i have with nz is this law of insanity doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.in short the tactics didnt work and the lions ability/guile to attack compared to a bereft ab backline says it all.the ab power plays were neutralised simply
Jerry G
Guest
Well Greg, I'm glad you think that was SA shaking the rust out, looked rather like the opposite to me. I suspect the AB's will be more improved next week. They might still lose, but I can't imagine they'll start that badly again.
Knives Out
Roar Guru
Indeed. Very good. The pair are predestinati.
Derm
Roar Guru
LOL! Nice one, Colin.