An under-strength England squad arrived in New Zealand Thursday, with coach Stuart Lancaster rejecting suggestions his weakened side faces a “Tour from Hell” against the world champion All Blacks.
Lancaster had to leave up to a dozen top players behind for the Premiership Final between Saracens and Northampton, meaning they will be unavailable for the opening match of the three-Test series.
“It’s not ideal when you come to play the world champions in their own back yard and you don’t have your best side available,” he told reporters in Auckland.
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“But it’s a situation I inherited. The scheduling is done way in advance… so we’re not going to sit and moan about it.”
Former England coach Clive Woodward lambasted the schedule in a British newspaper this week, saying it could lead to a repeat of the 1998 “Tour from Hell” when a hapless England were defeated 64-22 and 40-10 by the New Zealanders.
Lancaster disagreed, saying all the players he had available for the First Test had international experience and the squad would be bolstered when the players involved in the Premiership final arrived.
He said England were capable of winning the series against New Zealand, who went through last year undefeated.
“We wouldn’t come out here if we didn’t believe we could do that but we’re very very respectful of the opposition we’re playing,” he said.
“If you don’t believe in yourself and you don’t believe in the players then you’ll never believe.”
The England coach also said his players had to win over the New Zealand public after boorish off-field behaviour marred a tour in 2008 and the side’s World Cup campaign in 2011.
“I think the players understand we’ve got ground to make up over here… we’ve got our reputation to recover and we’re hoping to return to England as good ambassadors for our country,” he said.
The Test match schedule is Auckland (7 June), Dunedin (14 June) and Hamilton (21 June), with a mid-week tour game against the Crusaders Super Rugby outfit on 17 June.