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The All Blacks managed to wrap up the series against England last Saturday night, winning the second Test under the roof at Forsyth Barr in Dunedin. The final score was 28-27 in another absorbing contest.
We now look forward to the third and final Test this Saturday in Hamilton.
This could possibly be one of the more exciting and anticipated dead rubbers in recent times – although a Test match, in my view at least, is always important.
England will be incredibly disappointed to have not won at least one game after two very solid displays. They will be arguably even stronger come the third Test with the assumption that many of their regular first stringers such as Courtney Lawes, Dylan Hartley and Mako Vunipola will be on the starting list for Hamilton.
They will not want to leave New Zealand without a Test victory and I sense this team is incredibly focussed, determined and capable of achieving that goal.
The All Blacks will know this and will be motivated to ensure this does not happen. But how will Steve Hansen approach his team for this weekend?
With the series now won, will Hansen afford opportunities to some of the fresher faces in the squad or will he simply pick the tried and tested in pursuit of a clean sweep?
The forward pack in this series have been good in my opinion, our set piece has been very solid across both games. Some may have noticed that I was tracking the set piece on the Roar’s live blog from Saturday night and this was mostly in response to many criticisms directed at our scrummaging from the previous Test, myself included.
Roarer Sam Taulelei actually pointed out to me last week that in fact the perception regarding our scrum was misguided and upon review found he was right. We more than held our own and this continued into the second Test with another solid display.
The only blemish was one scrum where the English dominated towards the end of the match. Our lineout was also particularly satisfying, where the All Blacks secured all of their throws and snaffled two off England’s.
If there was one gripe regarding the scrums it was that we did concede two penalties and a free kick at scrum time to England’s solitary one and while those decisions are perhaps debatable, as many decisions in rugby seem to be these days, I am sure Hansen would want to see an improvement on that score on Saturday.
The work rate of the pack has been excellent around the field and while there have been times where New Zealand have been dominated in contact, they have had the composure and stamina to weather the storm and work their way back into the match, the second half in Dunedin a perfect example of this.
So is this really the time to make a few changes to the pack? Wyatt Crockett has been in great form and perhaps deserves a start and I would be interested to see how Patrick Tuipulotu would fare however with the promise of England’s best available starting team on tour I would not change the tight five.
One change that I would like to see made is to the loose forwards and that would be Victor Vito to start at eight with Jerome Kaino moving to blindside.
This could be considered tough on Liam Messam who has done nothing wrong but appears to short of his best.
Victors form has been compelling and deserves an opportunity and the additional physicality he has introduced to his game this season could be invaluable in seeking out an improved start to the match.
This is all said of course on the assumption that Kieran Read will not be available again this week.
Outside of Read, my gut feeling is that Hansen will not make any changes to the forward pack this weekend as I expect they will be challenged to put in a full eighty minute performance after being mostly outgunned in the first half last Saturday, particularly in contact.
With the backs, I would also expect minimal changes; the biggest talking point revolves around whether the exciting Malakai Fekitoa will be afforded his first Test start or perhaps the safer option of the reliable Ryan Crotty in Conrad Smith’s injury-enforced absence?
I personally hope Malakai is awarded is first Test start if for my own selfish reasons of seeing him, Ma’a Nonu and Julian Savea in the same backline. That is an exciting prospect.
The back division should remain the same and while on that I don’t believe there should be any doubt that Ben Smith is the best fullback in New Zealand and must surely be ahead in of Israel Dagg in the current pecking order.
The only other change I would make would be to see Beauden Barrett start this weekend.
His form this season has been outstanding and while we have seen Aaron Cruden improve steadily through the series I believe Barrett can really get our backline moving forward and is a greater threat to the English defence with his speed and passing game.
So the three changes I would like to see this weekend are Vito to eight with Kaino to blindside and Messam to the bench, Barrett in for Cruden in a straight swap and Fekitoa in for the injured Conrad Smith with Crotty to the bench.
I believe my proposed changes would really add to the current team, particularly in terms of speed and physicality. They would be the right players to really kick start the match in a positive fashion and provide the catalyst for the often sought after 80-minute performance.
My suspicion, however, is there will be no changes to this week’s team outside of injuries as Hansen will want to secure this series 3-0 at home.
Considering the strength of the likely English starting team this week, I wouldn’t blame him one bit.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.