NEW Springbok skipper Gary Teichmann has called for all out attack in the opening encounter of New Zealand's three Test tour at King's Park, Durban today. In reality, he has no other option.

Ridden by injury and controversy, the South Africans must take the game to the All Blacks or face the same humiliation they did in the final game of the three nation SANZAR Series at Cape Town last Saturday.

Sean Fitzpatrick's All Blacks are brimming with confidence in the wake of last weekend's victory, in which they took the Spingbok tight five apart, despite the continuing lack of fitness of giant wing Jonah Lomu and the injury which has seen out half Andrew Mehrtens replaced by Simon Culhane.

All Black coach John Hart is adamant that this Test will again be won and lost in the forwards, but is wary of using the lacklustre. Springbok display on the greasy Newlands surface as a benchmark.

"The Springboks have a strong pack," said Hart, "and after last Saturday's Test they'll come at us hard in the scrums. On the harder field (in Durban) it will be a different story and we'll have to scrum even better than we did to make an impression."

"We have to attack for the full 80 minutes," said Teichmann, "take the game to the All Blacks from the start."

It is a plan which is admirable in its simplicity and one which worked for nearly an hour in the last meeting between the two rugby powerhouses. But recent upheavals in the South African team will make their job this weekend even more difficult.

Teichmann has proved an admirable leader at provincial level for Natal but is a relative novice on the international stage and he takes over from injured captain Francois Pienaar at a juncture when Springbok rugby is in something of a slump.

Not even local sentiment is united behind the team. Debutant hooker Henry Tromp, convicted and sentenced two years ago for an assault on a black teenage farm labourer which eventually led to the youngster's death is not a popular selection.