Rugby-New Zealand braced for improved Springboks in second test in Cape Town

New Zealand coach Dave Rennie expects both sides to ​put in improved performances when they face South Africa ​in the second test of their four-match "Rugby’s Greatest ‌Rivalry" ​series in Cape Town on Saturday.

The All Blacks were worthy 33-16 winners against an error-strewn Springboks side in the first test in Johannesburg, but Rennie does not expect the four-times world ‌champions to be as poor again. New Zealand defeated South Africa comfortably in Auckland last year, but the following weekend suffered their worst ever test defeat, a 43-10 humbling in Wellington under former coach Scott Robertson.

"We are aware of the potential bounce-back," Rennie told reporters on Thursday. "They ‌will be bitterly disappointed with last weekend. There has been a lot of talk around how they bounced back last ‌year and we have touched on it (as a team). "We have also talked a lot about us being better than we were last weekend. Both teams can be a lot better. I would take a one-point win."

As for where the All Blacks can improve, Rennie believes handling the physicality of the Springboks will be key. "In ⁠the contact ​areas they were full of ⁠energy and we struggled to get forward," he said. "It has been a focus. They are big men and sometimes you just need to carry hard, win races ⁠and support well.

"Discipline-wise we gave away soft penalties early in the game. We gave them easy entries into our 22. Scrum-wise we had a couple ​of issues but we think our scrum will be a lot better." Rennie is not expecting much of a departure from ⁠last week in terms of the Springboks’ gameplan.

"They will just try and do what they did last week but do it better and maybe put more balls ⁠in ​the air, get mauls going and spend as much time as they can in our 22. "Our energy and scramble held them up over the line a couple of times. They had plenty of time in our 22 but our energy kept them out."

New ⁠Zealand climbed to the top of the world rankings with victory last weekend but could lose that spot on Saturday. Not ⁠that Rennie is bothered. "I am not ⁠remotely interested in the world rankings. I don’t understand them, they seem to change on a whim. Our focus is only on the game on Saturday," he said.

Rennie named his team for the ‌Cape Town clash ‌earlier on Thursday, making three changes to the starting XV.