All Blacks v England: Main selection talking points

Source: Radio New Zealand

England v All Blacks

Kick-off: 4:10am Sunday 16 November

Allianz Stadium (Twickenham), London

Live blog updates on RNZ

Analysis – At 9pm Thursday evening Scott Robertson names his All Black side to take on England this weekend, and it will feature a few changes from the one that beat Scotland. There are some injury-enforced ones, but it will be interesting to see if Robertson makes others based on form or simply match ups with Steve Borthwick’s England side.

England will be desperate to reverse the last few results with the All Blacks, that have seen them draw one test and lose three more by less than a penalty goal.

Here are the main talking points.

Loose forward situation

The pack is going to have a youthful look about it no matter what, but given the bulk of the so-called ‘Pom Squad’ Borthwick can call on off his bench, will Robertson be tempted to bring Simon Parker back into the fray? It feels logical given the big man was specifically used that way against the Springboks.

Parker starting would mean one of Peter Lakai or Wallace Sititi, who have both been excellent, goes to the bench at the expense of Du’Plessis Kirifi.

A reprieve for Rieko?

Caleb Clarke’s injury curse continues, but this now opens the door for Rieko Ioane and his imposing height to come back against what will likely be a kick-heavy English game plan. The other option is to move Will Jordan to the wing and bring Ruben Love in at fullback.

Barrett v McKenzie

DMac’s game-changing shift off the bench last weekend certainly sparked up the conversation as to whether he should be starting over Beauden Barrett, however the Clarke situation could see both of them in at fullback and first five respectively. Having McKenzie ready to come on and make a big impact is a weapon Robertson will likely want to keep holstered, especially since McKenzie played a match-winning role in the same fixture last year.

Scott Barrett back?

They’re giving the skipper as much time as possible to recover from his leg cut sustained in Chicago, and his experience in the second row will be valuable despite the very good performances by Fabian Holland and Josh Lord.

Samipeni Finau’s return home means that the All Blacks are down at least one locking option, so if Barrett can’t play then it might mean Josh Beehre is thrust into test rugby at one of its most inhospitable venues.

A change in the front row?

No one is playing badly but it can’t hide the fact that the scrum wasn’t anywhere near as effective at Murrayfield as it was against Ireland. Maybe some of those legs need a rest and the temptation must be there to send out the monster duo of Tamaiti Williams and Pasilio Tosi as starters.

Roigard’s workload

Cortez Ratima has only played 11 minutes of the last three tests, not even coming on at all against Scotland. Cam Roigard is certainly not showing any signs of slowing down though, but Robertson would do well to remember the situation with Wallace Sititi playing all four tests on the tour last year.

Sititi picked up a knee injury that wasn’t detected until January which kept him out of most of Super Rugby Pacific, and given Roigard has already suffered two injury setbacks of his own this season, there should be some sort of workload management going on here.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand