All Blacks still have faith in 'The Plan'

'What we are trying to do makes sense,' says Henry

New Zealand coach Graham Henry cranked up the pressure ahead of his side's Tri-Nations encounter with the Wallabies by referring to the Sydney fixture as 'the pivotal game' of this year's competition.

New Zealand will secure their third consecutive Tri-Nations title at the Telstra Stadium should they manage to secure a bonus point victory over the home side, thus becoming the first country in the tournament's history to nail down a hat-trick of championships.

"I think whoever wins this game has got a good chance of winning it," said Henry.

"The South Africans might have something to say about that, with two home games - but it's probably the pivotal game."

Henry also hit out at the critics of New Zealand fly-half Carlos Spencer - who has been accused of failing to get the All Black backs purring - by claiming that the evolution of the side's 'flat attack' system is progressing as planned.

"The philosophy is fine - what we are trying to do makes sense," said Henry.

"The players want to do it, the coaches want to do it and we think it's the right policy."

New Zealand assistant coach Wayne Smith, the principle architect of the All Blacks' new 'philosophy', also came to the defence of the system.

"Just because they're not executing it right doesn't mean the idea is wrong," said Smith.

"We all have faith in it. It's just a matter of getting more time in the saddle and perfecting it."

Smith also defended his side's performance during the early stages of the South Africa game, where the Bok defenders put the New Zealand halfbacks under immense amounts of pressure.

"I don't think this team has ever played against that sort of defensive line before," said Smith.

"It's going to be more prevalent, because in the United Kingdom now, just about all the top teams put that amount of pressure on."

But the inclusion of the ever resourceful Andrew Mehrtens in the New Zealand 22 - at the expense of Nick Evans - seems to indicate that Henry has opted to stash a definitive 'Plan B' up his sleave.

Mehrtens played a tactical blinder during last weekend's Christchurch club final, and Henry made no secret of the fact that the 31-year-old could be in line for a cameo appearance on Saturday.

"We had a number of spies there and he was quite outstanding - he's got a real chance of playing at some stage in the game," said the coach.

Indeed, even the mere sight of Mehrtens in a black tracksuit could be enough to give the Wallabies the jitters. His 199 points against Australia - scored in 15 Tests - is a record for any player against any country.