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Scott Robertson: England can expect new and improved All Blacks

Cam Roigard scores the All Blacks try. Photo by Koki Nagahama/Getty Images

While England last took the field in New Zealand’s rugby cathedral of Eden Park, the Kiwis have, on the other hand, had a busy international season developing under new head coach Scott Robertson.

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Three and a half months separate the first two Tests between the historic heavyweights and the upcoming rematch, offering the Kiwis a chance to prove how much they’ve developed over a rocky Rugby Championship.

New faces will likely be unleashed after missing the earlier Tests, with players like Wallace Sititi and Cortez Ratima earning favour already in their rookie seasons.

Will Jordan and Cam Roigad missed the July series through injury but may well find themselves back in the matchday 23 next weekend, while the likes of Samipeni Finau and Stephen Perofeta look likely to watch from the sidelines after failing to demand selection since starting against the English.

Dalton Papali’i, Ethan Blackadder and Luke Jacobson will also miss the rematch through injury while Finlay Christie missed selection for the squad altogether. Mark Tele’a and Sevu Reece also started against England earlier in the year but will likely be competing for the No. 23 jersey at best thanks to the form of Jordan and Caleb Clarke.

Beyond an individual perspective, New Zealand have now had 10 Tests in 2024 to find their feet in a new system under the new guard of coaches, giving them little excuse for anything other than a win after claiming victory in both July Tests.

“They’ll obviously still be match fit, a lot of their players a playing in the Premiership, that’s a great comp and they’ll be ready,” the coach said of England with a grin at the airport in Tokyo.

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“They’ve been under Steve (Borthwick) for a while now. It seems a long time ago since we played them, a lot can happen in between that.

“We’re playing good footy, they’re playing a little bit more footy than they have before so it’s going to be an exciting week.”

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The boot is on the other foot after an England squad at the end of a gruelling season landed in New Zealand looking to build on both the Rugby World Cup and Six Nations campaigns against a team who hadn’t played in eight months.

Now, it’s New Zealand looking to capitalise on recent results while the English are just generating their first traces of momentum.

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The rust of a new season was expected to play against Robertson and company, not helped by the introduction of the new leadership with new ideas. With the bulk of an international season in their pocket, Razor says England can expect a new and improved All Blacks team.

“We’ve been on tour a few times, we’ve experienced some different environments and we’re a lot more connected and understanding of our game, so we were in a good spot.” 

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J
JW 3 hours ago
The rugby world is concerned about Australia but signs of recovery are palpable

Well that's what their fans say here on this site🤷


My opinion is that their origin in SA and Super was far more important to their success. Hence why I suggested they see the fostering of players themselves local as far more part of their 'blueprint'.


I wasn't devaluing Rassie from selecting overseas players as being critical to stopping the downhill slide the team/country was on.


Super is a much higher standard of rugby than URC, you cannot argue against that. What is also beneficial is the tournaments role in giving players the ability to succeed at International level though. Thats were a competition based on 5 separate countries wins out.


Salary caps mean nothing. If you like, you can do a study based on how much players are paid locally, and then how much they sign for overseas. From memory I think it can be two or three times as much for that top player below International level. So for example you can say that the value of players choosing to stay in a team capped at 3mil euro, is worth 9mil euro overseas. That beats the French Top 14 teams value.


So aside from your Rubbish ;) I think you might be right, the setup in Aus is a joke. A good first step would be to use a lot of kiwi players, and then a lot of their coach's. Who was Noah playing for.. thought it was a top club.. a quick look on Noahs all.rugby profile suggests to me that towards the end of his koker stint at Toulon he over took the 10 that was favoured ahead of Dan Biggar in their knockout matches, that suggests he's good enough to be a starter in the Top 14's elimination rounds AM. Again, I think you're talking a pile of kak mate!

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