 Smith says the All Blacks cannot afford to be predictable |
New Zealand have admitted they are mixing up their approach to games in order to keep their opponents guessing in the run-up to the 2007 World Cup. "The last thing we can be is predictable," said assistant coach Wayne Smith.
"This year we haven't replicated a game plan - we've been totally different in two or three games.
"That has put a lot of pressure on us, but it's something we're conscious of needing to do."
New Zealand go into their Tri-Nations encounter with Australia in Brisbane on Saturday having won their opening two games convincingly.
However, despite their impressive recent form Smith said the All Blacks were finding opponents increasingly hard to break down in the modern game.
"The analysis systems are so good," said Smith.
"We're trying to play the game that you need to do against any given opposition at any given time, so we'll start off with an idea about how we're going to play it.
"But a part of that is giving players the responsibility to make decisions on the run and make changes as they need to on the field.
"You can pre-plan to a certain extent, but a lot of coaching today is about helping people accelerate their option-taking with experience."
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