By Ouseburn
June 20 2003

Team England are out to prove a point against the Southern Hemisphere teams, starting with the famous ‘All Blacks’! Who says England cannot win away from Twickenham?

Well some do and of course these are the critics of Team England. On previous form, perhaps it has been laid at England’s door that they are not good travellers and they tend to lose their bottle when it comes to the big games. What better time than now to silence those critics, it would appear from press reports that New Zealand are worried as they were not expecting England to win against the Maori and are now pretty hacked off, according to Clive Woodward.

So what of this massive game? Clive has gone for the winning six nations line up. However, one last adjustment due to Matt Dawson’s thigh injury means that Kyran Bracken replaces him and Andy Gomarsall moves on to the bench. England’s pack are strong and I am looking forward to seeing Josh Lewsey making breaks, hopefully flashes of magic from Will Greenwood and Jason Robinson but above all I want to see that wonderful white line of defence.

The ‘All Blacks’ are actually my tip for the World Cup but I still feel we can beat them as we did at Twickenham last autumn. The ‘All Blacks will I am sure want to attack with the ball in hand regardless of any adverse weather conditions. They also have two new faces in their line up Joe Rokocoko and Ma'a Nonu. It would seem that the ‘All Blacks’ will be targeting the line-out on Saturday and that Chris Jack and Ali Willams should pose a major threat to England getting set-piece ball. Well we shall see wont we, only remains for me to evoke my favourite cry:-

The game's afoot: Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge....... 'CRY GOD FOR HARRY ENGLAND AND ST. GEORGE ' Henry V (1599) Act3, Scene 1

England: J Lewsey; J Robinson, W Greenwood, M Tindall, B Cohen; J Wilkinson, K.Bracken; G Rowntree, S Thompson, J Leonard, M Johnson, B Kay, R Hill, N Back, L Dallaglio. Replacements: D West, P Vickery, S Borthwick, J Worsley, A.Gomarsall, P Grayson, D Luger.

New Zealand: D Howlett; J Rokocoko, M Nonu, T Umaga, C Ralph; C Spencer, J Marshall; D Hewett, A Oliver, G Somerville, C Jack, A Williams, R Thorne (capt), R McCaw, R So'oialo. Replacements: M Muliaina, D Carter, S Devine, J Collins, B Thorn, C Hoeft, K Mealamu

Westpac Stadium.