All Blacks in good shape, claims Smith [+ audio]

Wayne Smith

PRETORIA - The All Blacks have come through their final serious training session in good shape, assistant coach Wayne Smith says, with no ill effects from the long journey and short back-up from last Saturday's rugby test win over the Wallabies in Auckland.

Smith reported no injuries from the team's final training at their Centurion base near Pretoria, and they will complete their preparations for Sunday's (NZT) Tri-Nations test against South Africa here with a light captain's run at the match venue Loftus Versfeld tomorrow.

"It was a quite an intense session, the last real organised session before the test and it was a good one. Everyone got through well and pretty sharp," Smith said.

"You've got to try and simulate what you're coming up against (on Sunday), but you don't want to have the impacts too hard. It was reasonably physical, intense for quite a short period of time."

Keeping the players fresh and ensuring they quickly got over jet lag from their 17 hours of flying time on Sunday and Monday was the major issue this week, Smith said.

Players wore specially designed humidifier masks on the plane for the first time to ensure they didn't lose too much body moisture, and the first half of the week involved minimal physical additivity.

No All Blacks team have played tests in New Zealand and South Africa in the space of a week, and the coaching staff recognised the need for fresh legs by making 11 changes from Saturday's 34-27 win over the Wallabies in Auckland which clinched the Tri-Nations title.

Captain and flanker Richie McCaw, who had a sore neck and suspected broken nose after the win over the Wallabies, trained fully today and was "100 per cent fit", Smith said.

"There are some issues getting over the fatigue of the travel and we had a physical game five days ago, now we're preparing halfway around the world for another one.

"We've handled that really well, our recoveries have been really good and we've listened to the players' needs, so hopefully we're in the best condition we can be."

All Blacks head coach Graham Henry is seeking his first win in South Africa after losses in Johannesburg in 2004 and Cape Town last year.

- NZPA