Springboks coach Peter de Villiers admits to a level of nervousness ahead of the biggest Test of his short international coaching career against the All Blacks at Wellington's Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
Fresh to the position after taking over from Jake White who led the side to a World Cup win in France last year, de Villiers said the only reason for his nervousness was because the Test was against New Zealand, in New Zealand.
"I know they're passionate, and I know they try to play a few mind games telling us that they are not the favourites and we are the favourites.
"The one fact is that we are the world champions. But I don't think any other team will enter the shores of New Zealand and be the favourites here, so that makes me a bit nervous.
"They have played it low key this week so you don't know what to really expect of them," he said.
South Africa had its future in its own hands and that was the only way to look at the game, he said.
De Villiers was not too concerned that three of his key players, captain John Smit, lock Victor Matfield and first five-eighths Butch James, had not played under the ELVs because of their northern hemisphere commitments.
If there were six or more players then he would be worried, he said.
"They can adapt because the players around them know what happened during the Super 14. But the one thing I can tell you about the key players is that they are very, very professional and before they came to our first training camp they were already clued up on what we played," he said.
The changes to the lineout laws being introduced to this game for the first time at Test level called for adaptation for all teams, de Villiers said.
"It is a new thing. There will be a few things we learn tomorrow, but it will never be an excuse," he said.
There would also be some surprises from both teams at the lineouts, he felt.
Backs coach Dick Muir said the side still had a long way to go in its desire to play more of an expansive game.
That had also been hampered by the lack of time to work with the group of players at the moment.
"The potential is there but it has got to be a horses for courses situation," Muir said.
Scrum coach Gary Gold said he had not been able to pick up any possible weaknesses in the All Blacks' scrum.
Even during the Super 14 he had noticed 'quite a remarkable difference' in New Zealand scrummaging, he said.
"I think that's probably because it is done through a centralised coach and a system where they have all bought into it.
"They've got a reputable scrum and they are going to be good at scrum time but in saying that we've also got a long history of having a strong scrum and I think it is going to be an interesting challenge for us at scrum time on the weekend.
"A lot of the time at Test match level it is largely due to how it is officiated and hopefully Stuart is going to have a good handle on it, but he has good experience at scrum time and I'm quite happy and Peter's quite happy as well with the way Stuart has handled the scrums."
He said the Springbok scrum in the first three Tests of the year had produced mixed results - the scrum had a poor performance against Wales in the first Test, it improved significantly in the second Test and then there was parity against Italy.
"I'm quite confident about our scrum now considering we have combinations that have played together a lot, nearly 40 Test caps just in the pack .
"But I am under no illusions about how good the All Blacks scrum is. Interestingly enough, they have been penalised quite heavily in the past couple of Test matches so I am sure they will go away and work at a couple of reasons why they have been penalised quite heavily and I will be pretty focused at scrum time this week," he said.
Fresh to the position after taking over from Jake White who led the side to a World Cup win in France last year, de Villiers said the only reason for his nervousness was because the Test was against New Zealand, in New Zealand.
"I know they're passionate, and I know they try to play a few mind games telling us that they are not the favourites and we are the favourites.
"The one fact is that we are the world champions. But I don't think any other team will enter the shores of New Zealand and be the favourites here, so that makes me a bit nervous.
"They have played it low key this week so you don't know what to really expect of them," he said.
South Africa had its future in its own hands and that was the only way to look at the game, he said.
De Villiers was not too concerned that three of his key players, captain John Smit, lock Victor Matfield and first five-eighths Butch James, had not played under the ELVs because of their northern hemisphere commitments.
If there were six or more players then he would be worried, he said.
"They can adapt because the players around them know what happened during the Super 14. But the one thing I can tell you about the key players is that they are very, very professional and before they came to our first training camp they were already clued up on what we played," he said.
The changes to the lineout laws being introduced to this game for the first time at Test level called for adaptation for all teams, de Villiers said.
"It is a new thing. There will be a few things we learn tomorrow, but it will never be an excuse," he said.
There would also be some surprises from both teams at the lineouts, he felt.
Backs coach Dick Muir said the side still had a long way to go in its desire to play more of an expansive game.
That had also been hampered by the lack of time to work with the group of players at the moment.
"The potential is there but it has got to be a horses for courses situation," Muir said.
Scrum coach Gary Gold said he had not been able to pick up any possible weaknesses in the All Blacks' scrum.
Even during the Super 14 he had noticed 'quite a remarkable difference' in New Zealand scrummaging, he said.
"I think that's probably because it is done through a centralised coach and a system where they have all bought into it.
"They've got a reputable scrum and they are going to be good at scrum time but in saying that we've also got a long history of having a strong scrum and I think it is going to be an interesting challenge for us at scrum time on the weekend.
"A lot of the time at Test match level it is largely due to how it is officiated and hopefully Stuart is going to have a good handle on it, but he has good experience at scrum time and I'm quite happy and Peter's quite happy as well with the way Stuart has handled the scrums."
He said the Springbok scrum in the first three Tests of the year had produced mixed results - the scrum had a poor performance against Wales in the first Test, it improved significantly in the second Test and then there was parity against Italy.
"I'm quite confident about our scrum now considering we have combinations that have played together a lot, nearly 40 Test caps just in the pack .
"But I am under no illusions about how good the All Blacks scrum is. Interestingly enough, they have been penalised quite heavily in the past couple of Test matches so I am sure they will go away and work at a couple of reasons why they have been penalised quite heavily and I will be pretty focused at scrum time this week," he said.
