KEY POINTS:
Springbok coach Jake White has thrown down a challenge to his New Zealand counterpart, Graham Henry, with the World Cup now little more than seven weeks away.
Before he left Christchurch after South Africa's Tri-Nations defeat, White reminded the All Blacks coach that no team had ever won the World Cup based on attack. "World Cups get won on defence, not attack. It will be the same this time."
White knows that flies in the face of Henry's stated ambition to play an attacking game at the tournament in France, starting on September 8.
Henry has even gone so far as to say: "If we have to play like that to win a World Cup [meaning defensively] I would rather not win it."
The battle of minds between the Southern Hemisphere's two leading rugby coaches could yet decide the outcome of the 2007 tournament.
It is obvious White will base his World Cup strategy around defence. His reserve team did just that at Jade Stadium on Saturday night, frustrating the All Blacks for 70 minutes. Only in the last 10 minutes, when they scored three converted tries, did the All Blacks cut loose and expose the tiring South Africans.
"The World Cup is going to be a really tough competition. Sides can win test matches without the ball and the Springboks have proved that. We have also lost test matches where we have had the ball," White said.
"In the Australian test in Cape Town, which we dominated for long periods and Australia made 136 tackles, we only won with two late dropped goals. We have played games where we have had the ball, run it and looked really fancy but didn't get the convincing result whereas in other games, the opposite happened."
White praised the fierce defensive work of his makeshift team, calling it "an outstanding collective effort of determination and spirit".
"I think the All Blacks probably got a hell of a fright in this game.
"I would hope we have sown sufficient doubt in All Black minds before the World Cup. At halftime, I came down in the lift with Graham Henry and I could see the look on his face.
"It was 6-3 and we had missed a penalty to be 6-all. That was one of the best All Black sides they could have put out against us, so they will have doubts in their minds. You only had to listen to the crowd after 60 minutes to know that. They were thinking, this is not the awesome All Black side that they had in the last couple of years."
This represents the start of the mind games that are sure to be a key part of the World Cup. But White insisted that his team had learned enough to be confident of beating New Zealand at the World Cup.
"I have no doubt that if we get our best players ready and go through the same things we have done over and over again, there is no reason why we can't match them.
"I believe the pressure is starting to tell on New Zealand. They will tell you they won 33-6 and played really badly and that there is no better feeling than that. Sure, there are a lot of positives they can take out of this game.
"But, at the same time, I have to say you can feel the doubt creeping in. After 60 minutes, if they are not putting away a side of the type we put on the field, a team they called a C side, you have to ask what is going to happen when the heat is really on with good players against them?"
