New Zealand have spent all week trying to mend the errors in their game which saw them go down 19-28 to the Springboks in Bloemfontein last weekend.

But All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said the biggest issue was taking those lessons from training and making use of them in match situations as they look to bounce back against South Africa in another Tri-Nations Test on Saturday.

"Come Saturday, we've got to make sure everything's ready to go," McCaw said on Thursday.

"The disappointing thing last week is that we didn't put into practice what we'd changed."

And while there were errors aplenty - the Boks backline dominated the game and South Africa were far superior in the lineouts - All Black centre Ma'a Nonu said their backline wasn't making any excuses.

"We haven't played much together this year," Nonu said. "Guys come from different teams - Chiefs and ?Canes and Blues - but that's no excuse.

"I just think we didn't hit our straps really, so I think we need to get our rhythm going and start scoring some tries."

One area, however, where New Zealand held their own was in the scrums, and hooker Andrew Hore believes their forwards can only get better.

"The scrums were not too bad," said Hore. "We got most of the balls to our backs, which is our first job, then we disrupt a little bit of theirs if we can.

"We've had a good week training and, the longer you spend together, the better your combinations are, so hopefully we keep getting better."

Full-back Mils Muliaina, who plays his 74th Test on Saturday to join Tana Umaga as the fourth most capped All Black in history, said the tourists had recovered from their loss last weekend and were ready to bounce back in Durban.

"The mood's pretty good," Muliaina said. "We've had a full week now to prepare for this and we're getting things right that we didn't quite nail last weekend.

"So we're pretty confident and we're looking forward to another battle."