New Zealand's captain Richie McCaw has expressed concern over his team's tactics after their defeat by South Africa in Durban yesterday. The 31–19 loss followed a 28–19 reverse in Bloemfontein a week earlier.

McCaw's comments contrasted with those made by Graham Henry after the match. The All Blacks head coach had defended the decision to favour attack with the ball in hand.

"The pressure got on top of us and we made vital mistakes, as we did last week," said McCaw. "I guess that's a bit disappointing. You just can't afford to do that if you want to win a Test. They [South Africa] have got guys right across the back line who can kick a ball and they kicked really well. When you get pinned in your own half and try and play a bit much rugby there you're forced into a mistake, and that's either three points or the pressure builds. That's what happened."

The Springboks fly-half, Morne Steyn, kicked eight penalties and converted his own try. The All Blacks also scored one try, through the lock forward Isaac Ross.

New Zealand's full-back Mils Muliaina echoed his captain when he said: "They camped out in our 22 and we kept making mistakes. The harder we tried, the more we turned the ball over. We tried to be a little expansive but the conditions probably didn't allow us to do that. We made silly mistakes and we were back down the other end. That's the disappointing part."

Henry added: "We tried to play a certain game and just didn't execute as well as we had hoped, which is a sign of the pressure we were under. We had no platform from the set pieces and it is difficult living off crumbs.

"We played the right way, we just didn't execute properly. It was the right style against this team, even though some of it was pretty high-risk."

South Africa, who lead the Tri-Nations with two wins from two matches, play Australia in Cape Town on Saturday. New Zealand, who beat the Wallabies in Auckland in the tournament's first match, face their neighbours again in Sydney on 22 August.