Steve Hansen has named the New Zealand team to play England this weekend, with Sonny Bill Williams retained in the midfield and Aaron Cruden keeping his place at fly-half.
“We are extremely excited about this challenge and looking forward to it immensely,” said Hansen.
“Having played England already three times this year, at the beginning of our season, and again having the opportunity to play them at the end of season, will tell us a lot about how much our game has progressed.”
New Zealand team to play England:
15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Liam Messam, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Ryan Crotty.
Date: Saturday, November 8
Kick-off: 14:30 local (GMT)
Venue: Twickenham, London
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
18 replies on “Autumn Internationals 2014: New Zealand team to play England”
Well that is a frightening line up. Knowing Nonu was out, for a split second I was pleased, only to quickly realise SBW has in for him.
I think where England have to get at NZ is in the front row, which is not particularly strong. Man for man I’d take all of Englands front row, which I’d say for very few other positions.
Attwood needs the game of his life. Launchbury is unbelievably consistent and his graft is essential at the break down. In the backs Roko needs to keep Savea under wraps (good luck with that!!) and Farrell needs to be on top form.
They all need to be in top form! Key for me though is Eastmond and Barriit. Can they keep SBw quiet enough whilst not allowing him to off-load or create room for C Smith and the back 3?
A lot of people thought Eastmond was unfairly blamed for the defensive problems on the NZ tour in the summer. Guess we’ll see whether or not that was true this weekend.
Agree with you about Attwood. I think he has the ability and the power to be a very good player for England, but he needs to prove it
Agree with you that the centres could be key. Barritt is such a good defender though, not just in his tackling and positioning but his management and leading of the defense. Eastmond I was convinced for a long time that at this level bigger 12s would run over him – but he proved me wrong in the first test so I’m hoping we see that level of defending and not what we saw in the third test.
Let us hope that Launchbury’s graft is not essential given that he isn’t playing due to injury.
That’ll be why I said Attwood needs a big game, what with him being Launchburys replacement…..
My apologies, I misunderstood. It just read that way.
With SBW starting, I’ve never been happier to know Barritt is starting for England. Still terrified though.
I’ve actually just noticed the best selection of the lot.. Nigel Owens! Best ref there is, so lets hope for a classic.
Interesting you bring that up; I saw it and thought ‘shit’! I know a lot of people go on about what a great ref he is, but I really disagree. He it one of those refs that seems to want to steel the limelight and be heavily involved all the time – the best refs for me are the ones you never notice!
Unbelievably wrong. Owens is definitely the best. He lets the game flow, and deals with poor behaviour and foul play. Very rare to get both.
Can’t wait for a great game.
I too think he is the best ref there is, however he reffed the first game in the summer and I thought he had a shocker!! So I’m hoping he doesn’t put in a repeat performance!!
Unbelievably wrong. He is definitely the best ref out there. Lets the game flow and deals with poor behaviour and foul play. Also lets the players know what he is thinking, so they can keep on the right side of the law/whistle.
Can’t wait for a great game.
Cheers for letting me know my opinion is incorrect – wasn’t aware that was possible.
Still disagree. Yes it is great that he pulls players up for immature (footballesque) behaviour, but it some games I really feel he does it to play up to the cameras when he should just let it go. To go with that, I often find some of his decisions can be poor as well. When it gets to a point where a ref creates scenes that end up getting loads all over the internet, to me, they are far too involved in the game. I want to watch a game and see the ref not even mentioned. That to me is a ref that truly lets the game flow.
Generally I like Owens but I do feel as if he’s getting a bit carried away with the act. As Jacob, says we don’t pay our money to watch the ref perform
Owens has had some poor games but I don’t think they yet out-weigh the good ones. Hope he has a good one on Saturday
This is Owens of the 3 non-existent knock ons, and not binning Fekitoa because he was only just on the pitch (and ignoring smith and someone else were also involved in killing the ball).
He can be a great ref, and I do like how the game flows with him, but he can make some bloody ridiculous calls at times.
I might have come on a bit strong there. But I wouldn’t dare admit it without the benefit of a few pints. It seems we share the same view of our own opinions 😛
Pablito and DanD, all fair points.
Re the “act” agree it can occasionally seem excessive, but it works better than any other refs approach.
All refs make a few calls that are a) wrong or b)we don’t agree with. I agree with Pablito that Owens has more good than bad.
Trying hard to think who I would prefer. The only name that comes to mind is Joubert. But I am sure there are some who would object to that.
For me, the reason I say he’s the best is he seems to communicate with the players and explain his decisions. There will always be decisions that fans don’t agree with, as there is always subjectivity when applying a lot of the laws, but I think Owens gets the majority right (I had actually forgot about the first NZ test this summer) and does try to let the games play out in an entertaining way.
The entertaining ‘soccer’ stuff that ends up on youtube is very minor in comparison to the amount of games he does referee and not get headlines for.