England v New Zealand preview
England begin their preparations for next year’s Six Nations and World Cup campaigns with the latest batch of Autumn internationals – starting with a tough fixture against New Zealand at Twickenham.
The All Blacks are currently ranked No. 1 in the world and have beaten England in their last eight meetings - a run stretching back to 2004. Even more dauntingly for Martin Johnson’s side, the southern-hemisphere outfit are undefeated in their last 19 matches in the UK, Ireland, France and Italy.
However, Graham Henry’s imperious team showed they’re still fallible last weekend. A narrow 26-24 defeat in an enthralling encounter against rivals Australia in the Bledisloe Cup was their first defeat after a 15-Test unbeaten run.
Despite the result, the All Blacks still produced some stunning rugby in Hong Kong and were rather unfortunate to lose the match. Their exciting, direct, free-flowing style makes them firm favourites to extend their unbeaten record against the more defensively-minded England, who face a huge task to give their opponents a run for their money at HQ.
The records are undoubtedly ominous for Johnson’s men, but as they proved in their last fixture back in June, records are there to be broken.
England secured their first victory over Australia since that famous 2003 World Cup final, courtesy of a hard-fought 21-20 scoreline. It was far and away the most significant result of Johnson’s tenure, and certainly made his critics sit back and reassess their opinions of the World Cup-winning captain.
A win on Saturday afternoon against New Zealand would leave few doubts that England have the right man in charge to lead the national team into the most challenging year of his managerial career.
Unsurprisingly, Johnson has made just one change from the side that beat Australia five months ago for Saturday’s opening autumn international. Prop forward Andrew Sheridan will replace Tim Payne, while New Zealand-born Shontayne Hape retains his place in the England backline.
It promises to be an odd afternoon for the naturalised Hape, particularly when the All Blacks take to the field and perform the Haka. The centre performed it 14 times in New Zealand colours during his rugby league career, but is now very much committed to England after switching codes in 2008.
Meanwhile, there’s been much attention in the build up to this fixture on another rugby league convert – New Zealand’s towering centre, Sonny Bill Williams. The 25-year-old has drawn comparisons with legendary All Black Jonah Lomu, and has been widely-tipped to make a big impact at Twickenham on his debut with his world-class offloading ability and brute strength.
And if Williams wasn’t enough to contend with, England will also need to keep close tabs on the world’s best fly-half, Dan Carter. The 2005 IRB International Player of the Year is now 51 points behind Jonny Wilkinson’s world record Test points tally, and looks set to overtake the injured England international’s record during the forthcoming weeks.
With just six victories against New Zealand over the course of their 34 meetings, underdogs England will need to be at their absolute best to contain their opponents.
The general mood around the All Blacks camp suggests they see this match as a time to experiment – hence the debuts for Williams and scrum-half Alby Mathewson – as well as a chance to rack up a big scoreline.
But they won’t want to underestimate their English counterparts, who are up for the challenge of battling the most famous name in world rugby.
"They [the players] can't get carried away by the occasion but it will be exciting for them. They've got to have a crack at it, keep fighting to the end," Johnson said.
If they manage to do that, the hosts surely have a chance of upsetting the odds, but the All Blacks’ physical and technical prowess should ensure they keep their formidable reputation intact.
Prediction: New Zealand to win by five points
Tags: