With the Bledisloe Cup secured, the All Blacks have switched their focus to South Africa with the intent of lifting the Tri-Nations crown off the reigning champions in their own backyard.

The All Blacks’ 20-10 win over Australia on Saturday left them one point shy of reclaiming the title they lost to South Africa last year.

It also sent Australian coach Robbie Deans back to the drawing board after he slumped to a record ninth loss to the All Blacks.

The New Zealanders have two chances to pick up the extra point – against South Africa on August 21 and against the Wallabies in Sydney on September 11.

Nothing would give captain Richie McCaw more satisfaction than settling the score in the showdown with the Springboks before a sellout crowd of 90,000 at Soccer City Stadium in Soweto.

“You reassess,” McCaw said as the All Blacks locked away the Bledisloe Cup, the symbol of trans-Tasman rivalry, for a seventh successive year.

“The Tri-Nations is still there to be won and it’s going to be a big challenge playing in Johannesburg.”

The All Blacks, who ran Australia and South Africa into the the ground in the first four Tri-Nations Tests were forced to switch to plan B as they held back a much improved Wallabies side with resolute defence on Saturday.

The match was played at a scintillating pace, but after the All Blacks ran in two early tries to Mils Muliaina and Conrad Smith they spent most of the remainder of the game holding back a relentless wave of Wallabies attacks.

They were forced to make 115 tackles and succeeded with 110 of them while the Wallabies’ inaccuracy was exposed as they made 75 tackles but missed 12.

The win left the All Blacks unbeaten so far this year after disposing of Ireland and Wales in the June Test series and beating South Africa and Australia twice in the Tri-Nations.

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