All Blacks: The slide rule test

The All Blacks forwards huddle during training yesterday at Waikato Stadium. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Let the calculator international begin. Certainly that's how it looks from the All Blacks perspective as they search for twin Tri-Nations outcomes against the Springboks tonight in Hamilton.

The non-negotiable task for the All Blacks is victory, preferably with a bonus point. If they also deny the series frontrunners the same bonus harvest, the All Blacks will go to Wellington next weekend with a shot at retaining their crown.

All those possibilities will be swirling through the minds of the 31,000 crowd who rock up to Waikato Stadium tonight while the players will be concentrating on getting a result.

Local fullback Mils Muliaina said it had been back to basics and sorting out their physical needs after twin offshore defeats against South Africa.

"Certainly this week we've worked hard on our body positions and making sure our effectiveness at the breakdown is really good so we can get clean ball," he said.

The Boks have signalled their intentions with the inclusion of Francois Steyn at fullback. He may be heading away for a contract in France after this test but his powerful boot will be central to coach Peter de Villiers' plans, especially if conditions are damp.

Fourie du Preez, Morne Steyn and Francois Steyn are a mix of talented tactical kickers who make it difficult for the All Blacks to apply pressure. But the hosts also have their new twin axis of Daniel Carter and Stephen Donald to offer kicking choices and something new for the Boks to ponder.

But all those kicking avenues will only operate well if their sides generate uncluttered possession.

So if conditions are awkward and mistake rates rise under pressure, the scrums and lineouts will be even more crucial.

The All Blacks will want to avoid lineouts where Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Pierre Spies and Juan Smith offer a huge menace, but they should not be bothered by scrums.

Not if the surface holds and referee Nigel Owens is on his game.

As much as the Boks pride themselves on wearing their foes down, kicking and chasing and denying them space, the All Blacks will feel they can generate the same heat if there are enough scrums in the test.

Enter Tony Woodcock and Springbok captain John Smit, combatants in the front row.

Woodcock has a global reputation for being top quality but this season, perhaps because of a debilitating inner ear infection which lowered him in the Super 14, he has not been at his most damaging.

Smit is a burly man, a hooker through most of his celebrated test career who has pushed out to tighthead prop to accommodate Bismarck du Plessis. At times, the change has not been comfortable while there are similar questions about the athletic loosehead Tendai Mtawarira.

In the countdown to the match, Smit said this was not just another international, nor would his side be content with just a bonus point.

"We regard this match as an opportunity to build on the foundation laid by the victory in Dunedin last year and to put down a marker in New Zealand ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup," he said.

There is an element of that knockout tournament mentality about this test.

When the sides last met under the same referee in Durban, the All Blacks tried to run their rivals into the ground.

But their ambition was not matched by enough accuracy.

Some of that frenzy will be settled by Carter and there is enough clout in the backline to damage the visitors. But if errors mount and the pack does not produce a top-drawer effort, then Morne Steyn and his mates will kick the Boks to a rare away victory.