All Blacks coach Graham Henry has pointed to his team's meeting with South Africa in Cape Town on 16 August as a crucial juncture in their Tri-Nations campaign — one of two remaining games for the All Blacks, both on the road.

Following their 39-10 Tri-Nations/Bledisloe Cup demolition of Australia at the weekend, the Kiwis top the standings with 10 points from four games — followed by Australia (nine points from three games) and South Africa (five from three).

The All Blacks, with their two games on the road, know they must win in Cape Town if they are to retain the Tri-Nations title — while the games in Brisbane (13 September 13) and Hong Kong (1 November) will decide who holds the Bledisloe Cup at the end of the season.

But for now their focus is on the Tri-Nations and Cape Town.

South Africa is the only team in the Tri-Nations to have won away from home this year and if the All Blacks are to win the title they need to win at least one away game (Cape Town or Brisbane) and keep on picking up bonus points.

Henry said that while the win has eased some of the pressure — following back-to-back defeats earlier in the tournament — they can't afford to take the foot off the gas now.

"It (the win in Auckland at the weekend) gives us a foundation, it gives us some confidence, it gives us a wee bit of relief from the pressure, and you know what that has been like, and so we can build from there hopefully," Henry said.

"The game in Cape Town will be massive and the game in Brisbane will be massive and both teams playing in those two encounters will be on the edge of the edge so it is going to be pretty special."

Passionate Kiwis

Meanwhile, All Black backs coach Wayne Smith said that some good old-fashioned "passion" helped them bounce back from those earlier defeats and will also play a role when they head to South Africa later this week.

The All Black coaching staff admitted in the build-up to last week's Test in Auckland that they were "out-coached" by former Crusaders mentor (now Wallaby coach) Robbie Deans in the Sydney Test (a 34-19 win for the Aussies a week earlier).

However, the Kiwis came up with a remarkable turnaround at just the right time.

"I was adamant I was going to get it right," Smith told Sportal.

"I've put a lot of hours in, got good support from the boys and, as I say, from the coaching staff and we just got stuck into it and it came off."

The panel also admitted after Sydney that the transition to rugby under the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) had proved more of a hurdle than anticipated.

But the Auckland win had been achieved by adapting old-fashioned principles to the new laws.

"It is good to see that nothing has changed in the game, it comes down to that most often (having passion)," he said.

"We've got a responsibility now to use it (the performance) as a yardstick. We're trying to bring through a lot of young players and if you can bring them through in that sort of environment, where you lay it all out like that, it has got to be good for New Zealand rugby for the future."

There was nothing like the line breaks the side achieved in the Sydney loss, but there was a win by a big margin.

"It just shows you something about the game and sometimes how you are meant to play it," he said.

"But you can't get too carried away, it's one victory. I've been here long enough now to know you've just got to earn them week after week.

"That'll be the next challenge for us, to lay that sort of platform and show the same sort of passion," he said.

365