Impressed Henry expects Boks to change winning side

DURBAN - Graham Henry and the All Blacks brains trust did not need to see the Tri-Nations rugby opener in its entirety to realise South Africa will pose a greater rugby threat than the British and Irish Lions.

Henry and assistants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen were at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria yesterday taking a keen interest in the Springboks 22-16 defeat of the Wallabies with the coach saying he was unsurprised by the outcome -- or the manner of the South African victory.

"It's what we expected. We left early, we had a plane to catch so we missed the last five minutes ... it reinforced our thinking basically," Henry said as the team had their first light training run at a local rugby club here ahead of Saturday's test in Cape Town.

"They've got more game breakers, their loose forwards all have the ability to run with the ball, the scrum is good and they've got potent backs.

"You always know you're going to have some defending to do because they produce quality ball. They've also got some ball runners in the forwards which the Lions helpfully didn't in the finish.

"The South Africans look a better side than the Lions by quite a margin."

Henry was impressed with a typically bruising Springboks forward display though he did expect counterpart Jake White to make changes to his side as he follows the New Zealander's lead to keep players fresh.

He predicted possible alterations in the front row -- veteran Os du Randt may come into contention-- and the loose trio after Australian openside flankers George Smith and Phil Waugh were effective in tandem at the breakdown yesterday, dominating Juan Smith, Jacque Cronje and openside Joe Van Niekerk.

It took the arrival of 2004 International Rugby Board (IRB) player of the year Schalk Burger 10 minutes into the second half to give the Springboks the means to combat Smith and Waugh at the tackle.

Burger's erratic discipline -- he was sinbinned for a high tackle on Wallabies flanker Rocky Elsom minutes after coming on as a second half substitute during the Springboks 33-20 win at Ellis Park eight days ago -- has been considered a liability but Henry anticipated he would be starting at Newlands in a bid to negate Richie McCaw.

"I'm sure he'll play at the weekend. Jake know's what he's doing, he has a rotation system -- that's part of playing three test matches on three weekends."

White is also expected to reconfigure his backline when the team in named on Wednesday with Ricky Januarie's snappier service likely to be favoured over Fourie Du Preez, the more astute tactical kicker, at halfback.

Meanwhile, the Springboks emerged unscathed from Loftus Versfeld.

Star lock Victor Matfield caused concern when he limped off with a knee injury after an hour but a team spokesman said his withdrawal was only precautionary.

The All Blacks unveil their team on Tuesday with centre Conrad Smith and wing Sitiveni Sivivatu the only players at risk of being unavailable.

Smith has contracted a virus similar to the mumps -- an ailment that also affected McCaw on the eve of the team's departure last Friday -- and Sivivatu is yet to fully test still his right shoulder after he copped a knock during training in Auckland last week.

The team had a light training session today, spending 90 minutes playing a mixture of soccer and grid iron as well has indulging in a light-heated dropped goal competition.

Training steps up a notch tomorrow.

- NZPA