Rugby: World Cup road starts here

WYNNE GRAY assesses how the All Blacks will cope with their first real test of the season.

Blacked out or Boksed in?

Part II of the All Blacks' test schedule begins today at Carisbrook in a real examination of how their plans for the World Cup are shaping up.

The introductory bachelor of rugby lessons were completed with style and panache against Samoa and France. The masters degree begins with the Tri-Nations opener against the Springboks today before the post-graduate study at the World Cup.

The All Blacks' strategy to spread the ball and their ability to put the plans into action will receive a severe inspection from the Springboks. They will attempt to deliver a suffocating defence to pressure the All Blacks into errors, force turnovers and then work away on their own attacking schemes.

How the All Blacks cope with that pressure involves most of the intrigue about this test.

Will they be flustered into trying too much expansion, how will their decision-making stand up in the blast-force intensity, and will they revert to a more rigid game if the tension builds?

A fast start would quell much of that anxiety. Control from the pack, effective tackling and the early guidance of Justin Marshall and Andrew Mehrtens will be critical to a solid beginning.

Tactical kicking at the start from both Mehrtens and Gaffie du Toit will test the returning instincts, ability and organisation of both Jeff Wilson and Percy Montgomery. Early mistakes and concession of penalties will be the kick-start both teams want to enforce.

With their weighty pack, the Springboks will look to use their possession close to the fringes, involving their back-row and hard-running midfield of Pieter Muller and Japie Mulder. It may not be highly sophisticated but it will be punishing, and demanding clinical and consistent defence.

It will be designed to move the ball a few metres forward at each hit, to get the sort of roll on the New Zealand A forwards showed in their match with the All Blacks.

Conversely, the All Blacks will look to bring some width to their play, to involve their dangerous back three and Josh Kronfeld's support to question the mobility of the Bok pack.

The All Blacks' advantages stack up. They have a settled side, they are at home, they have had a fortnight to fine-tune and they appear to have a scrum well capable of dealing with the Boks.

And in Mehrtens they have the controller. A big-game player on top of his form, a player who can mix his game to suit with either kicking, running or calling the best plays. His goalkicking should also be a bonus.

If Marshall too, can reproduce those sniping runs at Athletic Park, perhaps even more so from set-piece, it will bring his mobile loose forwards into the game. In retreat, the halfback has to be crisp and decisive with his clearance to give his outsides time.

The Springboks will bring the grind game, the attrition approach, the fury of a team who have been pilloried in the press and who are under threat of World Cup axings if there is not enough progress for coach Nick Mallett. It is a powerful combination which all All Black sides can attest to since the countries returned to rugby combat in 1992.

Bodies will be bent, minds will be stretched. This is an important psychological step towards the World Cup and on the all-round but slim evidence so far, an All Black victory should evolve.