The All Blacks will take on England in the third and final Test of the Steinlager series at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton. Join The Roar for live scores and updates from 5:30pm (AEST).
Despite picking up a win against the Crusaders in a tour match the English still remain without a victory against the All Blacks.
While the ledger reads 2-0 in the All Blacks favour, for England it hasn’t been a result of poor performance – quite the opposite in fact. In both Tests they matched the All Blacks for intensity, accuracy, skill and talent.
This is a very different England team than in the past and they’ve proved it. Being without a win doesn’t say much but they have been close. If not for some lucky breaks going the way of the All Blacks this could a very different series.
One thing is for sure, from an English point of view; they were able to back up the belief they had before the series started and if they keep developing and performing like this, come World Cup time they’ll be in with a good chance – and on home soil.
All Blacks head coach Steven Hansen has been playing it straight, relatively speaking, during his post-match interviews after the first and second test nothing that his side has been far from spectacular; fumbling and bumbling their way to victories.
Still despite looking out of sorts, and lacking characteristic cohesion, this team has found ways to win. Simply, as well as England have played the All Blacks have responded to the challenge and come up with the all answers.
It hasn’t looked pretty and far from the slick performances fans have become to expect over the years. Perhaps many are not expecting the home team to hit their straps until the Rugby Championship begins in August – typically the time when everything is in top gear and firing for the All Blacks.
“In that 20 minutes [in Dunedin] when we started to believe in what we were doing, the guys showed what they can do. So it’d be nice to do that for longer.” said captain Richie McCaw.
Though before they can turn their attention to old foes the Wallabies, Springboks and newcomers Argentina, there is still the matter of putting England away.
So far, England has been playing a freewheeling attacking method, and it has almost come off. It was as though they took the All Blacks game switched it around to suit their own style and ideas and delivered it straight back.
The biggest let down for England thus far has been discipline, with players sent to the sin bin for indiscretions at costly moments. If they rectify that and use a little bit of brains rather than all out brawn it might just put them in with a chance.
One of the most significant areas that separate the All Blacks from Southern Hemisphere sides is that they play what’s in front of them. Sure points on offer is the way to go according to conventional wisdom but if there’s an opportunity to go for the big play New Zealand take it.
England and others always take the points. In most circumstances it is the safe option and always keeps them in touch, but it has failed to deliver a victory on this tour.
Is it time to throw that out of the window and change tact? Always do what your opposition doesn’t want you to do. Without much left to play for, expect England to be competitive and stay in the match for a lengthy period, before the All Blacks run over the top and take the win.
Tip: All Blacks by 10
JimmyB
Guest
Nuff said, explains everything.
JimmyB
Guest
Snap!
JimmyB
Guest
Cheers Riccardo, fair assessment I'd say. Sometimes learning who's NOT up to it is as valuable as learning who is. I'd be very surprised to see Ashton and possibly Eastmond anywhere near an England squad in the future. This isn't the first time that Ashton has been exposed defensively at the highest level, but it was certainly the most clear and sustained example. I'm not actually too concerned with the 9-10 axis. Care is a top quality 9 who had an off day, it happens. Farrell too is a very decent player who is still young, but he's generally on an upward curve performance wise. Beyond that, unfortunately we didn't get to see Ford due to injury but he's going to be world class IMO, big claim I know, but he's got all the attributes. Burns unfortunately played in the third test how I thought he would in the first, hopefully he will regain some confidence and consistency at Leicester his new club. Ben Youngs is in desperate need of a rest, he just looks spent and is lacking any of the zip that is such a part of his game. We saw one or two glimpses of it on the weekend but by and large he was a half a step behind when he needs to be half a step ahead. The one real plus of the tour for me in this area was Cipriani. He really seems to have knuckled down at Sale and he's back in the squad on merit, I'd say if everyone's fit he could be considered third choice after Farrell and Ford.
Riccardo
Guest
Back to back if I'm not mistaken Jimmy. I hope a few ignorant posters don't encourage you, Chris T and your comrades to stop posting here. I enjoy your dry humour and knowledge. England are on the up over the next year or two. They have a coaching group with some smarts, who are instilling a culture of belief and they have already shown some depth which will be further enhanced by the U20 group pushing below. I've never seen England so fit. Not too much to do with your tight five although mobliity remains an issue, when not dominating set-piece. An excellent back row who will get better. It's the backline that's an issue. I'm still not sure about the halves paring but if that's what you got then you need to persist. Centres should roll around Tuilagi at 13; 36 provides better support at 12 than Eastmond who has been found out on this tour. For all his showboating Ashton's defence is woefuland it's no coincidence that his side was so exposed on Saturday night. Mike Brown has not been at his usual standard IMO but that will also be because of the pressure the back three have been under since the second half of the first Test. Yarde has shown glimpses on attack and scored a brace but has also been exposed on defence.
Paul
Guest
Im Scottish Jimmy. I just love watching the English fail at anything. Long live the Scottish Republic!!
Tipene Roar
Roar Rookie
Daniel MaNning the egg is hopefully nekit minit himself
RobC
Roar Guru
The first two lineout, setpiece tries buried England's game. The yellow card installed the tombstone. - First lineout from a Mike Brown mistake, which gave an AB attacking 22m throw, and ensuring maul - Second one was from the most accurate restart you could find, which forced the Poms over touch. In both instances ABs committed the full English pack, and exposed the soft underbelly of their team in defence - their backs. Other teams can take note. England's main mistake is not keeping possession in the first half, as they did in the first two games. AB first try: - maul after the lineout, took out all the forward, and move them all the way to the edge of the field. - A Smith threw a quadruple cut out. At this point there were two AB players already outside of Ashton. - Couple of runs up the guts to commit more backs into the middle of the engagement, even though they fumbled a bit - Then when they were committed, it went to the bus on the left for a try. AB second try was a 'Qld Reds special', they compressed their attack against an well spread defence - Nonu as first receiver ran up with 3 others to compress the English defence towards the middle, creating the gap out wide - When this happened, he popped to Cruden who accelerated through a yawning hole, and had two men outside him. - Try to the bus, again
wardad
Guest
Is he English then ?
JimmyB
Guest
No worries mate. It certainly was a beating anyway.
stillmatic1
Guest
Just being cheeky, Jimmyb!! As Clint Eastwood said in unforgiven " deserves got nothing to do with it" I was just thankful that we could score against u blokes this series. I agree with u about nth hemi players. The guys mentioned may not nbe on the highlight reel each week, but they do their core duties consistently well and that is why they are world class players. We can't dismiss them so easily, just as an ab fan would never dare dismiss Conrad Smith as anything bit world class.
JimmyB
Guest
Mate, we must have been watching different games then, because in that second half, England were dominant in the scrums and the ABs knew it, hence why they tried to wheel it. A team is perfectly entitled to confer before a line out, in fact England should have done it throughout the series for two reasons. A) it worked for them. B) it annoyed the hell out of Hansen. Still, congrats to the ABs they really ramped it up.
Kuruki
Roar Guru
Woodcock was outstanding.
Kuruki
Roar Guru
Cruden and Jane were below average in the first two matches. Both lifted there games last night, that doesn't mean they didn't deserve criticism for the first two performances. Cruden was much better this week but still pushed some poor passes that were very lucky not to have been knocked on by his outside backs. The one where he threw the long ball to Savea was actually the wrong decision and could have cost us a try had Savea not shown exceptional handling to pick it up on the fly. A short pass to Fekitoa would have seen him coast in under the post untouched. It's good to see him attacking the line again which was missing earlier, he will be firing come Rugby championship and when Cruden is in form the All Blacks are a much more dangerous proposition for everyone. I wanted Barret to get a start but it should have been week one. When it was clear Cruden was well short on form and Barret was on fire.
JimmyB
Guest
I'm not sure that either Chris or I were advocating that the ABs give England the beating that they deserve Still. Why exactly did they DESERVE a beating anyway? Apart from that it was a fair analysis. Kuruki, I'm sure that all NH players will be gutted to hear that you don't rate them, but I'm sure the world will keep turning regardless.
JimmyB
Guest
I think you might be right there Steve.
JimmyB
Guest
Must have missed that one Chan, but hey ho.
Kuruki
Roar Guru
"brown hasn’t been more than average this series, so maybe dented his claims to being best fullback in the world" This seems to be a trend that happens all the time which is why i never rate Northern Hemisphere players as highly as others do. So many names have faced off against the All Blacks with reputations as the best in the world and have delivered mediocrity and been shown up by there opposites. The best in the world are the guys who deliver at the highest level not in some retirement competition. Odriscoll, Wilkinson, Shane Williams the list goes on, players who have been world beaters pre kickoff and delivered nothing but mediocrity when i am expecting "greatness".
But very poor in defence, he was turned around so many times, non committal to the tackle.
Popeye
Guest
Hmm...some truth in this. English set piece was surprisingly unreliable this match. Not sure you can say AB's have upped their game or English lost the plot. Certainly a step or two backwards and taken the gloss off the tour for the poms. The good news is the AB's still have a long way to go for a full match performance, hope they saving that for the Boks at Ellice park :-)
Popeye
Guest
Must've been a disappointing match for you?