England take on the All Blacks at Twickenham, London, England on Saturday. We take a look at how this match might unfold.
England, under the hand of Martin Johnson has yet to impress me. They are still unperperforming, to the extent that they are now one of the “lesser Six Nations Teams”. In addition they are short of a few players due to injury, yet Johnny Wilkinson is back, they boast a solid scrum and a few possible game breakers.
The All Blacks is a side in transition mode, still unsure of their squad going forward, experimenting wildly with all sorts of combinations. Although they won against a dogged Italy last week with their 2nd stringers, the scrums seemed less than solid. 13 Changes have been made though, bringing the Team much closer to their eventual settled squad. We all know the prowess of Richie McCaw, the abilities of Carter, the danger of Muliaina, the strenght of Nonu, the guile of Conrad Smith and the pace of Sivivatu, so in the game breaker division they are probably sill unrivaled in world rugby…. but there is a strange vulnerability…
I predict that the All Blacks will win and win convincingly… All Blacks by 14.
Players to watch:
For England: England pivot Jonny Wilkinson will get a chance to enhance his reputation against formidable opponents while Ugo Monye will be determined to bounce back after a torrid test last week. Up front, flanks Joe Worsley and Lewis Moody‘s ability at the breakdown will also be crucial to England’s cause while Simon Shaw makes a welcome return to the starting line-up.
For New Zealand: Ace All Black playmaker, Dan Carter will, as always, be a key figure for the visitors, while Ma’a Nonu‘s line-breaking will make him a marked man on Saturday. Skipper Richie McCaw will be a menace at the breakdown while the returning Tony Woodcock will look to stamp his authority in the scrums.
Head-to-head: All eyes will be on the superstar showdown between the world’s premier pivots, Dan Carter and Jonny Wilkinson but the breakdown battle between James Haskell, Lewis Moody and Joe Worsley against Keiran Reid, Richie McCaw and Adam Thompson, will be equally important to the outcome of the match. The tussle between the No.2’s, Andrew Hore and Dylan Hartley is also an interesting prospect.
Recent results:
2008: England 6-32 New Zealand, London
2008: England 12-44 New Zealand, Christchurch
2008: England 20-37 New Zealand, Auckland
2006: England 20-41 New Zealand, London
2005: England 19-23 New Zealand, London
2004: England 12-36 New Zealand, Auckland
2004: England 3-36 New Zealand, Dunedin
2003: England 15-13 New Zealand, Wellington
2002: England 31-28 New Zealand, London
1999: England 16-30 New Zealand, London (World Cup)
1998: England 10-40 New Zealand, Auckland
1998: England 22-64 New Zealand, Dunedin
Teams:
England: 15 Mark Cueto, 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Ayoola Erinle, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 James Haskell, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Steve Borthwick (captain), 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tim Payne
Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Danny Care, 21 Shane Geraghty, 22 Mathew Tait
New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Zac Guildford, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Corey Flynn/Aled de Malmanche, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Jerome Kaino, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Tamati Ellison.
Date: Saturday, November 21
Venue: Twickenham, London
Expected weather conditions: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. Wind 30 to 50 km/h.
Kick-off: 14.30 (GMT 14.30; 03.30 NZ time, November 22)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Whiners both ways Jan
England – Please show up and really try!
2@ Carol – Hehehe… they will be there… but they will be beaten
3 – GBS Hellooooooo – *** It is becoming rather a familiar pattern, I see you Bokke fans are getting used to loosing too!! Hahahah
4@ Carol – Grrrrrrrrr
Yeah, this tour for us has been dismal.
Posting here in between… waiting for a PC to finish something, clients sitting here on the couches waiting… oi vei…
Oh, by the way the 1st ODI between SA and England (cricket) has been abandoned because of the rain here… one would swear this is Muddy Isle… it’s been raining non-stop!
Another late night for you 8.30pm your time!! So they are eating biltong and watching TV are they?
7@ Carol – I hid my biltong… they’re watching a bit of TV and annoying me with their chatter in the background…. farking women!
6 GBS in the Lake district yesterday 12″ of rain fell, probably the highest amount of rain ever to fall in Britain in one day.
That is like a tropical downpour, not English drizzle!! Some bad floods followed…..
I know women can be SO BORING!!!
7@ Carol – Remind me in the morning to take some pictures of our lawns and garden, and you could see what summer looks like here as far as gardens are concerned… if it does’nt rain again tomorrow, that is!
Good Grief, Puma has nearly caught me up one the most active commentors (GBS there is no such word in English as Commenters)!!
But it makes me smile anyway!
11 GBS So the sheep ‘shit’ has worked on your lawn!! Hehehehehe……
12@ Carol – Oh well, in SA there is… hiehiehie
14@ Carol – Yip, it works every year!
14 – It’s you blog you can say just what ever you like…….and spell it any old how!!
You do not need anyones ‘toestemming’ !!!
13@ Carol – So, did you practise Nkosi Sikelel’i Afrika?
17 – Yip, had a go in my office earlier…..managed to sound better than Ras!! Some of the words are really hard to say though!!
I was in tune though!!
18@ Carol – Let me go attend to the bloody PC and the clients… shunt them out of here as soon as possible….
OK !!
GBS Check your mail !
I have the white legs to win by small margin on Superbru.
Or should I say purple people.
Souties looked rediculous with their purple outfits last saturday.
Help my sterk lyk kleertjies.
One expects something like that in Pretoria, not London.
I need to get my comment number up
and up
Now the machine tells me I am posting too quickly and must slow down! hahaha
AB do you know how much rain fell on your farm?
Since last Friday we had 96 mm in Hoedspruit, i can hear the grass growing, lekkkerrrrrr
Superbul
Dit is baie vir julle, die veld verander in ‘n oogwink as dit so lekker reen. Hier by ons reen dit al van maandag af non stop, en dit is vrek koud.
Dit het vanmore 7 uur nog lekker gesous, maar dit lyk nouj of die wolke bietjie optel.
En baie geluk met jou huweliks herdenking!
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