TRY TIME: Richie McCaw rises after scoring a try off the back of a maul in the All Blacks’ Eden Park test against the Wallabies.

The All Blacks have got the masters of the maul thinking hard, with Springboks bosses intrigued at New Zealand’s innovative and successful tactics with this crucial attacking weapon during the early phases of the Rugby Championship.

The big Boks packs have long set the standards in mauling, but assistant coach Johann van Graan has admitted intrigue over the way the All Blacks have developed the art as they displayed in demolishing the Wallabies at Eden Park.

Stuff NZ

Skipper Richie McCaw reaped the rewards of two rolling mauls off lineout wins, crashing over for tries in the 50-21 win that got the All Blacks’ campaign back on track after a draw in Sydney the week before.

The sight of All Blacks backs in lineouts and mauls has puzzled the Boks.

They used the maul to good effect to get out of jail with their last-gasp win over the Pumas in Argentina and are expected to bring it into play to pulverise the Wallabies in Perth on Saturday night.

“I think the maul is a big part of the South African game,” assistant coach Johann van Graan told media in Perth.

“Definitely if there’s an opportunity we’ll maul, but it’s not because of what happened in Auckland.

“If you look at those mauls closely in Auckland, the New Zealanders put quite a few backs into the maul. They did something different.

“I think it might have been a surprise. It’s the first time in a few test matches that I’ve seen that. And they did quite well to put their backs in the blind and I think it made one or two guys unsure.”

Big wing Julian Savea and bustling midfield back Malakai Fekitoa featured at the front of the two lineouts that led to the McCaw tries, though they resisted joining the maul, quickly forming a dummy formation on the blindside that loomed as an attacking alternative as the pack rumbled towards the line.

The New Zealand forwards will need to be on top of their game against a Pumas pack that surprisingly dominated the Springboks in both Pretoria and Salta, leaving the Boks doing plenty of work on their scrum over the last fortnight.

South Africa lead the Rugby Championship by one point over the All Blacks and now face two pivotal games in Australasia, facing the All Blacks in Wellington next weekend.