England have the opportunity to make history this Saturday, as they take on the All Blacks at their spiritual home of Eden Park. New Zealand have not lost at the Auckland stadium for 30 years, with England eyeing up the chance to become history makers upon their last match of the season.
It has been an arduous 2023/24 campaign for Steve Borthwick’s men, with the finish line in sight after this final Test against the All Blacks. Whilst the best that England can do in the two-match series is come away with a draw, the All Blacks have raised an even grander target upon their Auckland fortress, as they propose the Test for England to end their three decade run of dominance.
There will be at least one change to Steve Borthwick’s match day 23, given Joe Marler’s foot injury in the first Test against the All Blacks. The Harlequins loose-head was replaced by fresh-faced debutant Fin Baxter, and it was later confirmed by Borthwick that Marler will play no part in the team to face New Zealand at Eden Park.
So, with a 30-year record on the line for the All Blacks and nothing to lose for England this Saturday, here are RUCK’s predictions for Steve Borthwick’s England team to play New Zealand in the second Test of the 2024 series.
BACK THREE
15. George Furbank (Northampton Saints)
14. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
11. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints)
Regular readers of our prediction pieces will recognise a trend upon our back-three, as we expect Steve Borthwick to once again go with the duo of Northampton flyers and the immense Exeter wing. All three men were impressive in Dunedin, yet the plaudits have to go to Furbank’s outstanding performance in the 15 jersey.
Furbank’s exhilarating line breaks and hard-hitting defensive acumen caught the attention of the All Blacks, with his opposite man Stephen Perofeta singling out Furbank as an impressive performer from the first Test. The Blues man had a tough day at the office against his opposing fullback, as Furbank embodied the fearless mentality of youth, that Borthwick hopes will generate a long overdue England win at Eden Park.
To echo an earlier predictions article, ‘if it ain’t broke…’. This is certainly the case for Steve Borthwick and his back-three, with the England head coach evidently sure in his selections across the 11 and 14 shirts. The combination of Tommy Freeman and Manny Feyi-Waboso imposed a threatening unexpected element upon the All Blacks, after Sevu Reece confirmed that the New Zealand squad did not know too much about the young England wings during the week.
CENTRES
13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
12. Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby)
The midfielders remain unchanged in our opinion, after Henry Slade and Ollie Lawrence took it to the experienced All Black partnership of Jordie Barrett and Reiko Ioane. The West Country once again combined to see Exeter and Bath’s stand-out midfielders take centre stage, and we expect more of the same after a rather impressive outing against the All Blacks. The boys in white fronted up against their opponents, both in attack and defence.
Beginning with the defence, the order of the day was once again ‘blitz’. Slade and Lawrence took it upon themselves to pressurise their opposition centres, with the Exeter man’s efforts applauded by defence coach Felix Jones (article coming soon). Lawrence also made an assortment of strong hits against the All Black ball carriers, with the New Zealand outside backs admitting to have been put through the ringer by the England line-speed.
Upon the front foot, Slade and Lawrence once again combined to punch holes through the New Zealand defence, with the inter-changeable pass and receive options asking plenty of questions of the All Black tacklers. We expect more of the same from Borthwick’s selection ahead of Saturday, and once again we anticipate there to not be a centre amongst the replacements. As much as Fraser Dingwall has impressed in Northampton’s Premiership winning campaign, we can’t see the centre making the 23 shirt this time around.