All Black prop Kees Meeuws said his team had gone back to basics in their forward play after a year of stagnation and the new regime will make a difference at Saturday’s Tri-Nations Test against South Africa in Christchurch.
Meeuws said the renewed focus on improving their set piece under coach Graham Henry and assistants Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith had lifted the All Blacks to a significantly higher standard.
”That has benefited our game. If we had carried on the way we were going, we wouldn’t be getting the results that we’re seeing,” Meeuws said.
The All Blacks were exposed by Australia in last year’s World Cup semifinal after being outplayed in the line-outs and at the breakdown.
Without any All Black authority up front, the Wallabies could easily shut down attempts to break the line.
”We had concentrated on getting the ball wide too quickly which was taking us out of our game,” Meeuws said.
”With this new coaching regime we’ve gone back to doing the basics well and setting the platform for our backs to do well.”
Hansen said he believed the front row battle on Saturday would be ”a real ding-dong”.
”That’s probably the best South African side they’ve had for a while,” Hansen said.
”They’ve certainly got the smartest rugby they have for a long time. It’s just going to be a really good Tri-Nations, all three sides are in really good form.”
Springboks coach Jake White noticed the All Blacks’ approach had changed considerably. He said convincingly beating England twice, as New Zealand did last month, could not be achieved without a dominant front eight.
”The All Blacks compete a lot more at the breakdown because of the forwards that you have,” he said.
”They get there and have a full go but I don’t think it’s anything different from what we expect from the Springbok team.
”As long as it’s done according to the laws of the game, I think that’s a part of the game where I think you can get dominance.”
Teams
New Zealand
Mils Muliaina, Doug Howlett, Tana Umaga (captain), Daniel Carter/Sam Tuitupou, Joe Rokocoko, Carlos Spencer, Justin Marshall, Xavier Rush, Marty Holah, Jerry Collins, Simon Maling, Chris Jack, Greg Somerville, Keven Mealamu, Kees Meeuws. Reserves: Nick Evans, Sam Tuitupou/Andrew Mehrtens, Byron Kelleher, Craig Newby, Ali Williams, Tony Woodcock, Andrew Hore.
South Africa
Percy Montgomery, Breyton Paulse, Maruis Joubert, De Wet Barry, Jean de Villiers, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Fourie du Preez, Jacques Cronje, AJ Venter, Schalk Burger, Albert van den Berg, Bakkies Botha, Eddie Andrews, John Smit (captain), Os du Randt. Reserves: Brent Russell, Gaffie du Toit, Bolla Conradie, Quinton Davids, Joe
van Niekerk, Faan Rautenbach, Danie Coetzee. – Sapa-AFP