WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)—New Zealand coach Graham Henry hopes his players will achieve more than a pass mark in their first Tri-Nations test of the season against South Africa on Saturday.
The former schoolteacher awarded the All Blacks 50 percent for their performance in a 60-14 win over Fiji a week ago, the first test of their World Cup season.
He expects to see sharp improvement in Wellington on Saturday as New Zealand takes on a depleted Springboks team and continues to develop a game plan to regain World Cup after 24 years.
“I thought we played about 50 percent in Dunedin,” Henry said after naming an All Blacks team changed in four places from the Fiji match.
The most significant change sees the return of star flyhalf Dan Carter to the starting lineup after he played 20 minutes off the bench in Dunedin. Carter kicked three conversions to lift his career points tally to 1,194, one short of the world pointscoring record held by England’s Jonny Wilkinson.
“It would be nice to play about 65-70 (percent), get an improvement on last week,” Henry said. “The opposition will be a lot stronger, but that will be good.”
New Zealand showed little in an error-ridden performance against Fiji that hints at their likely World Cup gameplan. The All Blacks coaches, notably backs coach Wayne Smith, have hinted at a new direction in New Zealand’s attacking play but that hasn’t yet been unveiled.
New Zealand has only four test matches, including Saturday’s, before it’s opening World Cup match against Tonga on Sept. 9 and will have to show vast improvement against the second-string Springboks if they are to endorse their World Cup favoritism.
“We’re very simplistic in the wider things we are trying to do (with the gameplan),” Henry said. “We can broaden it as time goes on. It’s important to get the skeleton right, the foundations and then add some fat as we go along.”
The All Blacks will be most concerned with improving their play at the breakdown which has become the most critical area of the modern game and fulcrum of all attacking play.
New Zealand was deficient in that area against Fiji, initially moving the ball wide from set play and often finding itself without forwards to support the ball carrier. Fiji made no attempt to commit players to the breakdown immediately but waited until the All Blacks began to free the ball then disrupted and counter-rucked effectively.
South Africa has left 21 frontline players at home for its Tri-Nations matches in Australia in New Zealand, losing 39-20 to the Wallabies in Sydney last week. While many of their stars are absent, this Springboks squad has the size and physical style typical of South African teams and will likely test the All Blacks in the contest for loose ball.
New Zealand has named a new-look backrow with regular flanker Adam Thomson starting at No. 8 and Jerome Kaino returning on the blindside flank. Those players and captain Richie McCaw will be critical for New Zealand as it attempts to establish a breakdown ascendancy.
“We need to get our stuff sorted because we weren’t too crash hot seven days ago, we were a bit rusty so we have had to put in a bit of work to the things we didn’t get right,” McCaw said Friday. “We’ve got to make sure we go out and perform.
“The Springboks, even though perhaps they left some guys at home who would normally be in the team, there’s still some pretty good rugby players there who’ll be hurting after what happened in Sydney last week.”
Henry suggested the gameplan the All Blacks are working to develop in the short space of time before the World Cup is revolutionary and has tested players’ adaptability.
“They haven’t experienced these type of things before, haven’t played them. They’ve been playing for 20 years, so to change something that old is sometimes quite difficult,” he said. “I am not a great believer that structure decreases flair. I think structure increases the ability to express yourself.
“We are trying to develop a game which is pliable. It is set-piece game, breakdown game.”
Saturday’s match affords the Springboks another chance to test their depth ahead of the World Cup. With so many players left at home in South Africa likely to form the basis of their World Cup squad, those who play in Wellington will have to shine to have any chance of claiming Cup places.
“I think there are huge signs of good things to come in the future,” captain John Smit said. “I’ve had some time with these boys, they certainly aren’t short in talent and if you think about the numbers that aren’t here we’ve certainly put a smile on faces in the future of rugby in South Africa.
“We need to keep building on these guys because they’re going to be playing tests for some time after this World Cup … It’s important for them also not to think that every time they get into the Springbok environment that the whole world is hating them.”
Lineups:
New Zealand: Mils Muliaina, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Zac Guildford, Dan Carter, Jimmy Cowan; Adam Thomson, Richie McCaw, Jerome Kaino, Sam Whitelock, Ali Williams, Ben Franks, Andrew Hore, Wyatt Crockett. Reserves: Corey Flynn, John Afoa, Jarrad Hoeata, Liam Messam, Piri Weepu, Colin Slade, Sonny Bill Williams.
South Africa: Patrick Lambie, Bjorn Basson, Adi Jacobs, Juan de Jongh, Lwazi Mvovo, Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar; Danie Roussow, Jean Deysel, Deon Stegmann, Alistair Hargreaves, Gerhard Mostert, Werner Kruger, John Smit (captain), Dean Greyling. Reserves: Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Ryan Kankowski, Ashley Johnson, Charl McLeod, Wynand Olivier.
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