However, Hansen added cheekily: "He's got an upside down mouth. He's one of those unfortunate people born with an upside down smile. "As for the pre-match verbal jousting, Hansen said: "I don't want to comment on that. It's just mind games from two very astute coaches." Before the Springboks left South Africa ahead of the Tri-Nations opener against New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday, de Villiers said he and Henry had something in common - a big mouth.

De Villiers had appeared irked by comments by Henry and captain Richie McCaw that South Africa "played less rugby" than New Zealand and Australia and would have to be "forced out of their comfort zone".

"Graham Henry is a good coach, but he's like me, he has a big mouth," de Villiers said.

"I don't understand what they mean by playing less rugby. We all play for 80 minutes. And we are never in a comfort zone. We try to improve week by week, even if it's just by half-a-percent."

South Africa head into the tournament as the reigning champions and having whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 last year.

However, Hansen didn't believe the All Blacks were suffering from any hangover from those run of defeats. He felt they had come through their one-off test against Ireland and two-match series against Wales last month in good shape mentally.

"I know there's a deep down desire to perform well," he said.

"Having lost the Tri-Nations last year, there's a huge hunger to win it back." He described the lift in intensity in the New Zealand camp over the past few days as natural, given that the All Blacks were about to face a team universally regarded as the best in the world.

"We fancy ourselves as being a fairly handy rugby side too, and it will be a big test match," he said.

"Tri-Nations rugby involves three of the sides in the top four in the world rankings and there's a lot at stake. Clearly the tension and pressure that comes with that is a lot greater than normal."