MUSCLING UP: Adam Thomson has moved to No 7 in a reshuffled All Blacks loose forward trio with Victor Vito and Jerome Kaino after captain Richie McCaw was ruled out with injury.

Memo to the All Blacks forwards: More grunt please.

We're not just talking about the scrum here, even though it was given a torrid examination in the final minutes of last Friday night's World Cup opener against Tonga.

Tonight's test against Japan at Waikato Stadium offers the New Zealand pack an opportunity to flick out a message to their northern hemisphere counterparts that they, too, love the unglamorous chores.

Okay, the All Blacks - even without the injured Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Mils Muliaina - are expected to pound a Japan side stacked with second-stringers but they still have a responsibility not to get lured into using this contest as an excuse to run about like hulking NFL running backs.

As the tournament rumbles on it is probable those sides whose forwards buckle-up their helmets and grapple with opponents in hand-to-hand combat will reduce the odds of defeat.

For the New Zealanders this mission starts tonight; even though coach Graham Henry will encourage his backs to play with width, he will also surely be instructing his forwards to resist the urge to pluck out the plums.

Everyone knows the All Blacks' pack possesses some wonderful athletes but let's also see a few lineout drives, some pick-and-goes and men firing into the breakdown with their heads lowered at hip level and staying on their feet.

Those who watched England meet Argentina in Dunedin last weekend later agreed it was hardly a glowing advertisement for the so-called Game Made in Heaven. Yet it was absorbing and it was gritty.

The English forwards ground away, unloaded some big lumps off the bench and eventually prevailed against the spirited Pumas. It is the sort of style required to win a sudden-death match later in the tournament.

"We want to play a certain game and play it well. That means you have to focus for long periods of the game and do that,'' Henry noted yesterday. "We don't want the game to get loose and untidy, and we will be focusing on accuracy and building the game.''

Henry reiterated he was unimpressed by the repeated scrum resets as his side defended their line against Tonga but he, of all people, surely, will know he cannot be dismissive about this facet.

"That (more resets) would drive everybody mad, including the coaches. I almost went home at that stage. It is just a matter of getting it right. There is a learning in every game you play and there was a learning in that particular game.''

Colin Slade's start in the absence of Carter gives him a chance to dismiss speculation Piri Weepu should be the latter's deputy at first-five and Adam Thomson, who gets a run in the absence of McCaw, is another who will be keen to improve on his previous start at openside against the Springboks last month.

Staying on his feet at the breakdown and avoiding the wrath of the referee, Welshman Nigel Owens, should be paramount.

New Zealand: Isaia Toeava, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Richard Kahui, Colin Slade, Andy Ellis, Victor Vito, Adam Thomson, Jerome Kaino, Sam Whitelock, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu (c), Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Andrew Hore, John Afoa, Ali Williams, Anthony Boric, Jimmy Cowan, Piri Weepu, Sonny Bill Williams.

Japan: Taihei Ueda, Takehisa Usuzuki, Koji Taira, Yuta Imamura, Hirotoki Onozawa, Murray Williams, Atsushi Hiwasa, Takashi Kikutani (c), Michael Leitch, Itaru Taniguchi, Toshizumi Kitagawa, Hitoshi Ono, Nozomu Fujita, Yusuke Aoki, Naoki Kawamata. Reserves: Hiroki Yuhara, Kensuke Hatakeyama, Yuji Kitagawa, Sione Vatuvei, Tomoki Yoshida, Shaun Webb, Alisi Tupuailai.