All Blacks: Withering late run a winning formula

The All Blacks will call on their recent trait of finishing tests like a runaway locomotive when they face South Africa.

Compelling statistics show New Zealand have become the best closers in the world game, with their record against the Springboks especially impressive.

The two great rivals have barely been separated at halftime in their past five tests, but the All Blacks have then powered away in four of them - the exception being their narrow loss at Dunedin last year.

More pointedly, the All Blacks have scored 10 tries in those tests, with nine coming in the second half and seven of them in the final 14 minutes.

All Blacks backline coach Wayne Smith points to the importance of having a quality reserve bench.

"If you want intensity in a test match for 80 minutes, you've got to have 22 players able to contribute," he said. "You can't have 16, 17 or 18 because at some point you're going to lose intensity.

"Last year we found that we were able to outlast teams because of the quality of our bench. We haven't got all those players back this year, so we have to create others."

Last year's season-ending tour, starting with the final Bledisloe Cup test in Hong Kong, was remarkable for the defensive wall New Zealand would erect after 40 minutes.

They didn't concede a try after halftime in any of the six matches and won the second half of them by a combined scored of 87-3.

Over the past year, New Zealand's second-half score has been better than their first half in 12 of 13 tests.

FINISHING POWER

Last 15 All Black tests

Average first half score - 14-9
Average second half score - 17-5

Last five Springboks tests

Average first half score - 8-8
Average second half score - 17-5

When the tries came

NEW ZEALAND:

First quarter - 1
Second quarter - 0
Third quarter - 2
Fourth quarter - 7

SOUTH AFRICA:

First quarter - 0
Second quarter - 3
Third quarter - 1
Fourth quarter - 1

- NZPA