All Black coach Graham Henry started the process of soft-soaping the Springboks ahead of their crucial Tri-Nations showdown in Cape Town next week, saying he rates South Africa as the toughest venue for New Zealand away from home.

The All Blacks leave Auckland on Friday for their penultimate Tri-Nations Test, against the Boks in Cape Town next Saturday, 16 August.

Henry has won just two of his five Tests in South Africa since he took over as All Black coach in 2004. It may seem a fair record, given that South Africa have won just once in New Zealand during that same period.

However, Henry said the Springboks on home turf represented "a major, major, major hurdle".

What makes the New Zealand mentor a lot more edgy is that almost half his 26-strong tour party had not played a Test on South African soil.

"It's the most difficult place that New Zealand teams have played in the history of the game," Henry told NZPA.

"The All Blacks over the last few years have been among the best in the world at times, and they've struggled. That shows the magnitude of the task."

Henry said being at sea level would be a help, as would the scheduling that allowed the All Blacks to arrive in the country eight days before the match.

A key issue would be whether the All Blacks could get the superiority up front that they managed in their comprehensive 39-10 defeat of the Wallabies in Auckland last weekend.

That would dictate whether they could reprise their highly effective gameplan at Eden Park of kicking for territory before launching attacks.

However, Henry said the Springboks had the best line-out in the world, while their scrum was better than Australia's.

"When you have dominance at set piece you can control field position and that's what we did," he said.

"If you don't get dominance at set piece, which could be the case against South Africa, then you have to use the ball that's kicked to you, otherwise you don't use the ball at all."

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