All Blacks ominously still searching for perfect 80 minutes

All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster sent an ominous warning to the Springboks that there could be better to come from the world champions at Newlands this weekend.

The All Blacks thrashed the Springboks 57-0 in Albany nearly three weeks ago‚ yet they have been talking as if the match was a contest that went down to the wire.

“We felt that the Boks put us under pressure in the first 40 minutes of that game in Albany‚” Foster said.

“The Boks took the game to us but we hung in there.”

And despite their unprecedented success since winning the 2011 World Cup that has seen only five defeats in 77 Tests over five years‚ the All Blacks don’t define success in terms of wins and losses‚ but rather in searching for the perfect game.

“It depends how you define success and failure‚” Foster said in the build up to Saturday’s Rugby Championship match.

“The world tends to define success by winning and losing but the other way is to ask questions: ‘were we that successful in the second half against Argentina? No.’

“It’s a matter of asking if we can get better. And the answer is ‘yes’. So that’s what drives us. It is not hard and there is no complacency in what we do.

“We want to put a complete 80 minute performance on the park‚ and I don't think we’ve done that yet. That is what drives us.”

So‚ you don’t think beating the Boks 57-0 was an 80-minute performance?

“That was a special game‚ no doubt about it‚ but we didn’t do it the next week‚” Foster said.

“If you go back to the game in Sydney (the All Blacks beat Australia 54-34) we had a pretty special first 50 minutes (the All Blacks led 48-0) and then a forgettable next 30.

“The next week in Dunedin we got out of jail. What’s happened in the past is a poor indicator of what is going to happen next.”

As part of their search for the perfect game the All Blacks rested key players in last week’s 36-10 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Lock Sam Whitelock‚ hooker Dane Coles‚ flyhalf Lima Sopoaga‚ flank Liam Squire and centre Ryan Crotty were rested and flew into SA on Friday‚ nearly 72 hours before the remainder of the squad joined them in Cape Town.

“We’ve approached things differently this year‚” head coach Steve Hansen said.

“We sent those players who weren’t involved in the Argentina game to South Africa early.

"The second part of this plan involves managing the effects of travel for the rest of the group [that travelled from Argentina to South Africa].

“Travel is a big thing‚ and what we’ve found is that the guys probably don’t pay the price in this particular competition.

"It’s more of a problem on the end-of-year tour.”