Chasing a Grand Slam of victories on a European tour, New Zealand believes England will he hurting from last weekend’s record loss at home to world champion South Africa and could be more dangerous than the score suggests.
England’s performance, however, suggests the All Blacks have little to worry about.
On the day New Zealand brushed aside Six Nations champion Wales 29-9 to follow up routine victories over Scotland and Ireland, England went down 42-6 to South Africa, its worst result at home in 137 years of international rugby.
Now the All Blacks, considered by many to be the strongest team in the game even though South Africa holds the World Cup, can increase the misery level for England and its new manager, 2003 World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson.
Only a few months into the job, he faces the prospect of his own triple slam of defeats to Tri-Nations teams having also seen England lose 28-14 to Australia.
Although Johnson, a fearsome lock forward, has been trying to get England to play imaginative, fast running rugby, his players have let him down with frequent mistakes and infringements, handing easy penalties and try-scoring opportunities to Australia and South Africa.
Much of the blame was put on Danny Cipriani, a young and talented flyhalf who has now been dropped to the bench after making too many wrong decisions and consistently running into tackles.
If they do the same with Toby Flood at flyhalf, England’s players are certainly heading for another embarrassing defeat at Twickenham, possibly even worse than the 41-20 defeat to the All Blacks the last
time they met there two years ago.
”We can’t leak soft tries, we can’t have charge downs, we can’t give away silly penalties,” Johnson said. ”If they score, we have to score next. We have to win all those little battles.”
Much will depend on whether England’s pack, the biggest reason for the team’s 2003 success and follow up appearance in the 2007 World Cup final, can dominate the All Blacks.
”Everything is about attitude,” Johnson said. ”The confidence takes a dent when you get beaten like that. It is our job to get it back up again.
”It is always a tall order to beat the All Blacks. How many Test matches do they lose? How many do they lose in Britain? We are heavy underdogs and there is a reason for that, we got beaten heavily last week and they didn’t.”
Johnson says he has identified a way to beat New Zealand but the problem is executing that on the field.
”We have to do things better than they do. We have increased the intensity. We have to translate the pressure on the field on to the scoreboard,” he said.
”We need to be in the game after an hour and take
the All Blacks to somewhere they haven’t been for quite a long while.”
Because Conrad Smith has recovered from a groin strain, he returns at centre in New Zealand’s strongest available lineup.
Although New Zealand has not won the World Cup since the first one in 1987, the All Blacks have regularly beaten all its rivals over a long period of time with repeated titles in the Southern hemisphere.
But frustratingly for rugby-mad Kiwis, the All Blacks have a tendency to peak between World Cups.
Their loss to France in the World Cup semifinal still hurts and lock forward Ali Williams said the All Blacks have striven hard to maintain their reputation as the top team.
”Last year was very frustrating because of what happened in France and it’s been a tough year in terms of whether people still respect the All Blacks,” he said on Friday. ”But on an individual basis I love
playing for the jersey and still have a lot to prove. For me my drive is not hugely World Cup focused.
”I’d rather take rugby for what it is — it’s not about the rewards or the end product, it’s more about playing a game with your mates and doing the best you can. We have the ability to become a great All Blacks side, but a lot of people have ability it’s whether you use it.
That’s our challenge.” – AFP
