The XV de la Rose and New Zealand face each other this Saturday at Twickenham for their first test match of the tour. A clash between two teams in search of new luster after periods of turbulence.
Second in the Rugby Championship this summer behind South Africa, beaten at home for the first time in their history by Argentina, the All Blacks no longer seem to be the global scarecrow that they have long been.
Big winners over Japan (64-19) last weekend with a reshuffled team and without their executives already gone to London, the men with the silver fern have a lot to prove during a busy autumn tour: England, Ireland, France and Italy.
Opposite, England has regained color since Steve Borthwick succeeded Eddie Jones, dismissed less than a year before the 2023 World Cup, of which the English finally reached the semi-finals.
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Third in the 2024 Six Nations Tournament, the English only failed by two points against France (33-31) and beat Ireland (23-22) before conceding two short defeats in New Zealand this summer (16 -15 and 24-17).
A record for Maro Itoje
Thanks to an increasingly offensive game, the teammates of second row Maro Itoje find themselves dreaming of 2019, when they extinguished New Zealand in the semi-final of the World Cup in Japan.
Itoje, who with an 85th cap will surpass his illustrious predecessor the 2003 world champion Martin Johnson, does not hide his ambitions. “What matters is not accumulating capes. Martin Johnson has accumulated victories. He won the Six Nations, big matches against the nations of the southern hemisphere.he said this week.
England, however, is wary of the New Zealand of coach Scott Robertson, who arrived after the final lost by one point against the Boks during the 2023 World Cup and crowned with his multiple titles with the Crusaders.
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“Everyone thinks New Zealand are a team that move the ball so well, but ultimately they are proud of their touch, their scrum, their mauls”warns English left pillar Ellis Genge, who expects “a battle of attrition”.
Before continuing its copious November menu against South Africa, Australia and Japan, the XV de la Rose is ready to battle against the Blacks, led by the three Barrett brothers: Scott in second line and captain, Beauden at the opening and Jordie in the center.
