The All Blacks moved their sights to South Africa after beating the Wallabies 22-16 in the opening Tri-Nations clash at the weekend, with coach Graham Henry warning that his side can only get better.

Since disposing of the British and Irish Lions last month the South Africans have been installed by bookmakers as favourites to break the All Blacks' four-year grip on the Tri-Nations crown.

Henry said the two Tests against South Africa in the next two weeks would be a big challenge for the side, but he was sure the side would galvanise to meet the challenge.

"Any tour of South Africa is a major challenge," Henry told the media.

"Only one series has been won by the All Blacks there [Sean Fitzpatrick's class of 1996], and we will look at this as a series.

"It is another big step for us," he said.

The defending champions, New Zealand, failed to fire on all cylinders in their Tests against France and Italy last month and the under-par form continued to haunt them as they struggled for the first 20 minutes against the Wallabies.

But when talismanic captain Richie McCaw crashed through a wall of defenders for the opening try he launched a comeback that turned a 3-13 deficit into a 22-16 victory.

In the final 20 minutes, "we pretty much squeezed them", McCaw said.

"It wasn't pretty but there were forced turnovers. Our defence was good and we didn't give them a lot of options which is pretty good."

The win drew praise from a New Zealand media which had been harshly critical of the team after the June Test performances.

"Hail to the chief: Richie McCaw," said the Sunday Star-Times.

"All Blacks show heart," added the Herald on Sunday while the Sunday News said: "Henry warns Springboks."

Despite the improvement, a sense of frailty remained, due in particular to the way the Wallabies exploited midfield lapses, scoring one try and only missing two others by their own errors.

The All Blacks "felt a bit rusty" in the opening stages, Henry said as his side prepared for a pre-dawn flight to South Africa on Sunday and back-to-back Tests against the Springboks over the next two weeks.

"We should get better now we've got a foundation to build on.

Some of the players hadn't played for a number of weeks so they should get better as the Tri-Nations goes on."

"Next week I'm sure we'll be even better," added McCaw, who spearheaded the All Blacks victory despite stepping into the fray after being sidelined for nearly two months with a knee injury.

McCaw, with his "lead-from-the-front" approach, was a telling difference, scoring the All Blacks' only try, but the result was also about the timely return to form of fly-half Stephen Donald.

Donald's selection had been in doubt after a month in which he was plagued by poor form and injury, but he bounced back against the Wallabies to contribute 17 points from the boot and marshalled his backline with confidence.

The All Black coaching staff also praised the efforts of Donald, scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan and blindside flank Jerome Kaino.

Backs coach Wayne Smith said Donald had shown he was a very mature person.

"He had no right to be out there tonight but he showed huge desire to be there and that says a lot about him," Smith said, adding that there had been a lot of public pressure on Donald.

"The improvements that had come about in his game had largely been the result of work that he had done himself. The game overall had been one of much better kicking and chasing from the All Blacks," he said.

Forwards coach Steve Hansen was impressed with Kaino's effort saying he had a huge task of leading the loose forwards, with the return of McCaw and Rodney So'oialo after a long lay off.

"He had done the job well in what was one of his best performances," Hansen said.

365

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