Razor’s reign gets underway in earnest this Saturday with the All Blacks squaring off with England in the first of their two-match July series. Darry Worthington previews.
New Zealand v England
Saturday 6 July | 09:05
Forsyth Barr Stadium
There’s a lot of expectation on the former Crusaders mentor to deliver the goods right off the bat and he has a decent enough chance of doing just this as he faces an English side that has just started a massive rebuild.
To Win Match
New Zealand 19/100 | Draw 33/1 | England 39/10
Handicap
New Zealand (-11.5) 9/10 | England (+11.5) 9/10
Scott Robertson will be in the Kiwi hot seat for the first time this coming Saturday and the former All Black is probably chomping at the bit to get his international coaching debut under his belt.
The former Crusaders coaching talisman has a couple of big decisions to make prior to Saturday’s kick-off, however, as a number of players who started the World Cup final under Ian Foster have now moved on including the halves pairing of Aaron Smith and Richie Mo’unga with the former hanging up his international boots while the latter is unavailable after opting to play his club rugby in Japan.
Robertson has proved he’s capable of making big calls already as was illustrated when he named his squad for the two match series, with 49-year-old leaving out the in-form Hoskins Sotutu and Chiefs flyer Shaun Stevenson. The absence of Sotutu is easier to justify than Stevenson, with Chiefs young gun eight Wallace Sititi tearing up trees in Super Rugby Pacific, Stevenson’s non-selection is more debatable as he had formed a brilliant duel playmaking partnership with Damien McKenzie – who has cracked the nod at ten this weekend – during the Waikato side’s run to the Super Rugby final. I suppose it is early doors in the season and the Stevenson/D-Mac partnership could still be rolled out later in the year.
This is pretty much the ideal first series for an All Blacks side that is under new management and features a lot of fresh faces. The English are rather mediocre at the minute but aren’t exactly canon-fodder. While they did have a poor Six Nations campaign, only winning two of their four fixtures on the way to finishing fourth, they will take some confidence from their narrow win over Ireland and their recent big win over Japan, whom they beat 17-52.
While they did get their tour underway with a big win over the Japanese, the English could be in for a very rude awakening when they take to Forsyth Barr Stadium as this All Blacks team will be a much, much tougher proposition than the Japanese, who look like they may well regress under the tutelage of Eddie Jones. A big worry for their English will be their backline which is vastly inexperienced. Marcus Smith – who in fairness, played a blinder against the Japanese – may have been on the scene for a while but he actually hasn’t started all too many games the ten jersey for his nation, while if he breaks down then the English will be relying on rookie Finn Smith to take over the reigns at fly-half.
Teams
New Zealand: 15 Stephen Perofeta, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Mark Tele’a, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Dalton Papali’i, 6 Samipeni Finau, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan De Groot.
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Tupou Vaa’i, 20 Luke Jacobson, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Beauden Barrett.
England: 15 George Furbank, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Tommy Freeman, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George (captain), 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.
Verdict: New Zealand (-11.5) 9/10
Kiwi fans are excited for the Razor Robertson era to get underway and I reckon they’ll all be pleased come the final whistle on Saturday. My money is on Scott’s boys getting a big win over a very unbalanced England squad.
