Tomorrow the high flying All Blacks host the Springboks in Test No 2 of the Tri-Nations of 2010, in Wellington.

The Springboks aim to impress and recover from a bad 1st outing against the All Blacks, whereas the All Blacks intend to really drive the nail home with another win over their biggest world rivals.

The Springboks have largely kept their losing team, bar 2 enforced changes, the injury of Jannie du Plessis and the 9-week banning of Bakkies Botha.

We rightfully expect a more diciplined preformance and an overall improvement in mental and physical attitude from the Springboks!

Questions MUST be asked about the inclusion of CJ van der Linde at tight head prop, the insistance of playing Jean de Villiers on the right wing and the insistance of playing Butch James on the bench.

Will the Springboks front up better, do better in the lineouts and scrums, and above all have a much better presence in ground-ball situations? If one can answer positively on these 3 vital aspects of the game, then the Bokke could win…. if not, then we’re in for a long game again!

Another critical factor to consider is the use of the high-up-and-under kicks… will the Bokke firstly place those kicks better and secondly will they chase those kicks better? Your guess is as good as mine but with Ricky Januarie at scrumhalf we should not expect pin-point kicking from him, that is simply not a weapon in his armoury! In addition to better tactical kicking I suggest that Morné Steyn kicks his kicks to touch more into the stands to prevent the All Blacks using quick throw-ins and thus utilize their dangerous back-three so very effectively on the counter.

First time tackling tomorrow and a much better chase of the ground-ball is absolutely vital!

For goodness sakes, do not fall behind on the scoreboard either, it is much harder playing catch-up than playing with parity or a lead!

Players who have to step up, apart from the team as a whole, include Victor Matfield, Francois Louw, Pierre Spies, Ricky January, Wynand Olivier and more so than the others, Jean de Villiers.

Defensive lines are there to be adhered to and meticulously maintained…. so no shooting up early, no intercept attempts, just plain hard defence and the aim must be not to miss one first time tackle.

The Bokke weakpoints are defence on counter attack, lack of first time tackling, aimless and wayward kicking and not putting enough pressure in chasing kicks…. as well as a terrible bout of indicipline. Luckily in the last case the 2 players most suspect of ill dicipline is now out of the squad.

The All Blacks must be boyed by last week and licking their lips to do the double on the Springboks, but 2 important players are out injured, Cowan and Rokocoko…. however, very ably replaced by Weepu and Ranger.

What makes the All Blacks so dangerous is the fact that when they sense a weakness, they go for the throat, they aim to drive all the nails in the coffin… and they have the personnel to do it.

I was amazed by their lineout improvement and dominance last week, their strong scrumming and the way they played the ground-ball. There was no department in their game which was weak or even mediocre last week, they controlled the game, the pace of the game, the collisions… and they were more diciplined on defence and attack!

So, where do you take this juggernaut on? One slows the game down against them, play right into their corners and one tackles if one’s life depends on it. One contests each and every lineout and one hounds the ground-ball to perfection, not only to pilfer ball but to slow down possession and turn it into slow possession under pressure.

Sounds easy hey, well hells bells, that is the most difficult task in the world!

Prediction: At home and with the All Blacks already one up in the series it is difficult not to give them the edge. I think the Springboks will try harder and the game will be tighter but Ipredict another All Black win….. All Blacks by 7.

Recent results:
2010: New Zealand won 32-12 at Eden Park, Auckland
2009: South Africa won 32-29 at Rugby Park, Hamilton
2009: South Africa won 31-19 at Absa Stadium, Durban
2009: South Africa won 28-19 at Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein
2008: New Zealand won 19-0 at Newlands, Cape Town
2008: South Africa won 30-28 at Carisbrook, Dunedin
2008: New Zealand won 19-8 at Westpac Trust, Wellington
2007: New Zealand won 33-6 at Jade Stadium, Christchurch
2007: New Zealand won 26-21 at Absa Stadium, Durban
2006: South Africa won 21-20 at Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg
2006: New Zealand won 45-26 at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
2006: New Zealand won 35-17 at Westpac Trust, Wellington

The teams:

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Rene Ranger, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Liam Messam, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Israel Dagg.

South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Jean de Villiers, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wynand Oliver, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 BJ Botha, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Butch James, 22 Gio Aplon.

Date: Saturday, July 17
Kick-off: 19.35 (07.35 GMT; 09.35 SA time)
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Expected weather conditions: 40% chance of rain with a high of 12°C, dropping to 5°C and a southeaster of 36 km/h.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)