5. JUST 10 ENGLAND PLAYERS IN THE SQUAD HAVE FACED THE ALL BLACKS BEFORE
There is a core group of the England squad that have been lending crucial advice this week, as just 10 members of the touring group have experienced the Test match stage against the All Blacks. With such an abundance of young talent populating Borthwick’s ranks for Saturday’s fixture, the older members of the group have been passing on valuable words of wisdom from previous Kiwi encounters.
STEVE BORTHWICK: “We have only got 10 players in this squad who have played against New Zealand before, so many of them don’t know and there is a certain amount of excitement and the challenge of the players who want to play this game, because they want to see where they are against the best.
“What they want to focus on is very much, what are we doing to do and how are we going to do it? And they talk to me about we must bring our game onto the pitch on Saturday, that is what the players say to me and I am looking forward to bringing their game on the pitch on Saturday.”
“The players got together last night and they shared some of their experiences. Near a match day, the players will have more players’ meetings and that’s when they’ll talk much more about the game as they get closer to matchday and the specifics of the game.”