Category: Rugby Union

A lack of experience has lessened the impact of the All Blacks as many key players are ineligible for selection after moving to Japan

Thursday afternoon, and the All Blacks are out on the training ground around the back of the Lensbury hotel on the banks of the Thames, it’s a warm autumn day, and the mood is pretty free and easy, Will Jordan is practising catching high balls, Beauden Barrett is taking shots at goal, the forwards are packing up after running some drills, head coach, Scott Robertson, is chatting happily with the media before his press conference. Someone asks if his team are looking to make a statement against England on Saturday, the sort that reminds everyone exactly how good they are.

“A statement performance?” Robertson says, perplexed. “We’re just looking for a result.” Time was when every All Blacks performance was a statement performance, and their head coaches didn’t go looking for results against England, or anyone else, they expected them. The remark hung in the air for a moment. It’s only Robertson’s manner. For 20 years the All Blacks press conferences have felt like being called in for an audience with the family patriarch in the back room of a wedding, Robertson’s are more like a catch-up chat with the uncle you are pleased to bump into at the buffet.

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Steve Borthwick deserves credit for taking what was a real weakness of England’s and making it one of their strengths

Rugby union is a sport of trends and of unintended consequences and what I expect to be the two most decisive factors in England’s clash with the All Blacks on Saturday are inextricably linked. Much has been made of England’s firepower on their bench – New Zealand’s isn’t bad either – and when coaches are able to call upon such quality replacements, often en masse, then the kicking battle becomes all the more important.

Because the international game is not currently as fluid as it has been. That isn’t necessarily a criticism, it’s just the way things are at present; a little bit like the Premier League where set pieces and long throws are dominating. Of course we would all love to see flowing, attacking rugby but it’s really difficult because all elite sides favour having 13 or 14 men in the line, they all seem to adopt a blitz defence and the sheer level of physicality means it can be hard to have possession. It means that having a good set piece and a good kicking game are paramount and the emerging trend for “bomb squads” accentuates that because less fatigue is taking hold across 80 minutes. That isn’t to say there aren’t some magical moments when teams are on transition – Henry Arundell’s try against Fiji is a great example – but it is clear to me that things are a little old school at the moment.

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Steve Borthwick has picked six British & Irish Lions on his bench with a further nod to the growing importance of the endgame

Selecting your best XV to start a big rugby match feels increasingly quaint these days, as redolent of a different era as the Generation Game or Starsky & Hutch. To the point where you half expect to find the home teamsheet to face New Zealand this weekend has D‑N‑A‑L‑G‑N‑E printed at the top of it. Even with the All Blacks in town, the traditional order of selection no longer applies.

Instead it is all about the endgame. On this occasion Steve Borthwick has picked six British & Irish Lions on his bench compared with only four in his starting lineup. At some point around the 50th minute on Saturday there will be a mass discarding of XXL tracksuits and a fresh set of white orcs will rumble on. As South Africa’s “Bomb Squad” have long since shown, it can be mighty hard to combat.

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• Head coach urges side ‘to give absolutely everything’

• Ford returns at fly-half with Itoje back to captain side

Steve Borthwick has called on his side to prepare for “pain and suffering” if they are to end their losing run against the All Blacks, demanding the most selfless England team in history in the showdown on Saturday.

Predicting an aerial bombardment from New Zealand, Borthwick has recalled George Ford, insisting his fly‑half general “will be an England coach in the future”, and again loaded his bench with the “Pom Squad”, including six British & Irish Lions among his replacements.

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The veteran All Black duo both grew up on dairy farms and may not have flourished in English rugby’s rigid system

This week’s column is being compiled slightly differently. It’s not easy to type while looking upwards and smiling warmly at the bookshelf but, hey, that’s the price to be paid for method sportswriting. When you’re putting together a piece on Damian McKenzie, the All Blacks’ so-called “smiling assassin”, it’s important to try to get into character.

The head bandage took time to apply as well, as did the fake-blood drizzle of ketchup down the cheek. Anyone who watched the later stages of New Zealand’s win against Scotland on television on Saturday, however, will appreciate why the extra touches felt appropriate. It is not every day a player preparing to kick the clinching points in a major Test resembles a happy, beaten prizefighter.

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• Steve Borthwick faces major headache before showdown

• Alex Coles expected to partner Maro Itoje at second row

Ollie Chessum and Tommy Freeman are serious injury doubts for England’s clash with New Zealand, handing Steve Borthwick a major headache before the showdown at Twickenham on Saturday.

The two British & Irish Lions players sat out training on Monday and their participation against the All Blacks is in jeopardy. Chessum is struggling with a foot injury and was seen on crutches at England’s training base in Bagshot. He was replaced after 70 minutes of the 38-18 victory against Fiji last weekend and, in the likely event he is ruled out, Maro Itoje’s expected second-row partner would be Alex Coles.

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