England and the All Blacks are set to go head to head in just a matter of hours, with the incredible Auckland stadium of Eden Park hosting this blockbuster fixture. The 30-year All Blacks undefeated streak at Eden Park is on the line, with England hoping to end their Summer series on a high.
There has been plenty of fallout from the first game of the two match Test series, after New Zealand recorded a 16-15 triumph in Dunedin. This match marked the first test in charge of the All Blacks for their freshly appointed head coach Scott Robertson. However, Steve Borthwick would only love it for his side to crash the party at Eden Park, and hand Razor an early yet unforgetable defeat in charge of New Zealand.
With plenty of talking points from the week, and bountiful areas of discussion heading into the second Test of the Summer series, here are five key battles to look out for ahead of England vs New Zealand. We would like to point out our pick for an honorary battle, with Marcus Smith and Damian McKenzie once again going at each other tee-for-tee, in the hopes better performances at the posts, with a shot clock in play for the Eden Park Test.
1 PROP: FIN BAXTER vs TYREL LOMAX
England fans were treated to the debut of Harlequins prop Fin Baxter last weekend, as he replaced his club and country mentor Joe Marler upon the loose-head of the scrum. Baxter was thrust into the mix after just 20 minutes, as Marler suffered a severe foot injury at an early scrum. Marler’s foot gave out under the pressure of the All Blacks front row, with Lomax’s drive buckling the support of the veteran prop.
The pressure is on for Baxter to step up, and put his right foot forward ahead of his maiden Test match start. In what has been truly an unforgettable week for the young prop, the 22-year-old has gone from receiving his first England cap from Marler, to taking onus of his number one jersey to face the All Blacks. There was plenty of scrummaging scrutiny upon that of the All Blacks, with the likes of Ethan de Groot heavily criticised in the week after his questionable scrummaging techniques went unpenalised by the referee.
The battle field has certainly been tested up front, with Baxter and Lomax out to re-ignite the fire from the bitterly cold battle in Dunedin. Earlier this week, Lomax shared his thoughts of the young prop, and expressed how he expects another tough battle when the two pack down their respective propping heads in Auckland. “I thought he (Fin Baxter) went well, for a 22 year old to make his debut for 60 minutes. I thought he played really well.”
“They (England) got a couple of penalties early on, it took us a while to adapt to that. Some of the pictures that they were showing, but we’ve definitely worked on it this week and just respected them (England) with good prep in that area that we want to attack this weekend.”