Embattled All Blacks coach Ian Foster has made four changes to the starting XV for Sunday's (NZ time) critical rematch with the Springboks, and the most notable of those is the promotion of Richie Mo'unga at the expense of incumbent Beauden Barrett.
The mercurial Crusaders playmaker hasn't started a test since the All Blacks faced Italy back in November, reduced primarily to a bench role in his tag-team act with Barrett.
But with both his team and his own job in peril, Foster has chosen to hand Mo'unga the all-important No. 10 jersey, noting the 28-year-old had "trained really well and contributed massively behind the scenes" during the week at Johannesburg.
After the All Blacks struggled to gain anything close to resembling decent field position during the 26-10 shellacking at Mbombela Stadium, an improved tactical kicking game - a specialty of Mo'unga's - had to be at the forefront of his decision-making for Ellis Park.
Foster said that wasn't necessarily the driving factor, it was clearly a primary reason behind favouring Mo'unga as the horse for this course.
"[Mo'unga] has prepared well, trained well," said Foster. "Him and [Barrett] have been massive behind the scenes anyway, in terms of really working hard on the things we want to achieve, and I'm sure he'll bring his own little flavour to it
"But it's a matter of getting a balance between our kick, pass, run…. clearly last week we didn't get any field position early and that really dampened us, so we've just got to make sure we try and get some of that early against a team that kicks out of that space really well."
Mo'unga's footwork and unpredictability at the line may also offer a key to at least somewhat unlocking the Springbok's rush defence, which suffocated the life out of the All Blacks attack at Nelspruit.
Foster confirmed both Barrett brothers had been cleared from their respective injuries, while the stomach bug which prevented Will Jordan training on Tuesday had passed.
The majority of the change from the selectors has come in the forward pack, which was thoroughly outpaced and outmuscled last weekend.
Foster and his cohorts have dropped Angus Ta'avao and George Bower and brought in Tyrel Lomax and Ethan de Groot, who both had a clear impact on the scrum as substitutes last week.
Shannon Frizell has been switched with Akira Ioane, after his impressive late cameo, scoring the All Blacks' only try.
"We felt both Tyrel and Ethan were in really good positions," noted Foster. "It's a great opportunity for Ethan to switch from that bench, and he's a strong scrummager. Shannon looked raring to go off the bench."
But the question lies - is there enough change to a side that was so comprehensively outplayed just a week earlier?
Foster insisted overhauling his side wasn't the right approach and would undermine the team's development.
"We believe this is a time for growing experience in this group," he said. "You tread that line at selection time - do you make wholesale changes and inject or do you take the lessons?
"This group is still evolving, and these experiences are absolutely gold for us. We don't like not winning, but we're getting some clear markers against very good teams.
"I trust the lessons we're taking and put the onus back on us as a group to keep growing our awareness of the game."
Many teams had lost a game during the Rugby Championship and gone on to win the competition regardless, Foster said, ignoring the likely fact that he's facing the highest stakes himself.
Another defeat this weekend would be the All Blacks' sixth in seven tests and would probably make his position as head coach untenable.
"Everyone keeps putting those stats up," Foster said, after rebuffing attempts to press him on the pressure he'd felt on a personal level.
"We're not in that space. When you look at the championship, we've dropped the first one. There’s no good lingering on the past.
"We know we’ve got some development [to do] as a team, and the growth is always hurting. At the same time our goal is to improve, improve, improve, and doing it at Ellis Park is going to be cool.
"It’s a clear opportunity. We can't shirk away or worry about what's happened in the past. I've seen and felt the team grow, and through a bit of adversity you get your character tested. The key is when things don’t go your way not to sulk - woe is me.
"It’s about being clear and excited about the challenge, but also knowing you’ve got to take small steps."
