Smith backs Boks to battle.

The Super 14 could be key to the Springboks getting their Tri Nations title tilt back on track, according to Wayne Smith. And the All Blacks assistant coach has warned his side to expect the unexpected in Wellington on Saturday or risk being put on the back foot for the rest of the series.

South Africa crumbled at the hands of their hosts in Auckland last weekend and they were running out of ideas quicker than a Bryan Habana chip-and-chase. Even the usually solid Springboks' set-pieces looked far from concrete, as both the scrum and line-out were embarrassed into retreating back into their own territory.

But Smith has tipped Peter de Villiers to loosen the reins on his side for the second Tri Nations clash and encourage a more free-flowing style similar to the one that saw the Bulls and Stormers sweep aside their southern hemisphere rivals last season and provide an all-South African Super 14 final.

"We've seen in the Super 14 that they've got multi-skilled players and they can play a different type of game.

"You've got to suggest that maybe they can come and play that on Saturday. You've got to expect there will be some unpredictable events that take place and how you handle that is one of the big factors in the result," Smith said, adding that he also expects a repeat performance from his pack.

"We've got to make sure we maintain our intensity up front from last week and that will be the key thing, that we keep the same physicality and win the battle up front."

For all their one-dimensional attacking play in the 32-12 defeat, All Blacks centre Conrad Smith said the Springboks almost caught his side out on the counter attack and agrees with his namesake that they'll alter their style by attempting to let the back three of Zane Kirchner, Habana and Jean de Villiers dominate proceedings.

"At times they counter-attacked us and had some pretty good success, I thought," Smith said. "We just have to anticipate

that that's going to be the case. Their accuracy in most areas, we can expect that to be a lot better as well."

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