Mike Blair issues key message ahead of South Africa v New Zealand decider

After three Test matches on South African soil, the two teams flew together to the United States and will contest the fourth Test at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday. The All Blacks won the first Test but the Springboks took the next two to lead 2-1 going into the decider.

New Zealand will hope playing on neutral territory will elevate their chances and attack coach Blair also wants them to be more ruthless. The All Blacks scored four tries in last week’s third Test defeat but so did the Boks who won 29-24 thanks to a brilliant second-half display.

“The key message from an attacking point of view is that we're creating a helluva lot and we're scoring tries but we're missing a lot of opportunities as well, so the message has been really positive in what we're creating,” said Blair, the former Edinburgh head coach. “We're also discussing how we can maintain pressure through our multi-phase and when we get those opportunities, being able to pull the trigger on them.

"Twelve line-breaks [in the third Test] is a great stat for us. Four tries against South Africa isn't a bad stat; 13 tries in three games. We are scoring tries, we are creating line breaks. We want to convert another couple of them but we're aware you can't convert every one. Our ability to turn pressure into points is important as well.”