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'Anyone on the day is beatable' insists Chris Ashton ahead of All Blacks clash
By Alex Fisher
New Zealand may be the dominant force in world rugby but Chris Ashton says England should go into Saturday's clash with the All Blacks confident they can secure a victory.
The world champions have only lost four matches since lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy in October 2015, and one in their last 14 Tests – against South Africa in Wellington in September.
Since that 36-34 defeat, the All Blacks have won four games in a row, including a 69-31 victory over Japan in Tokyo last weekend.
England have not tasted success over New Zealand since December 2012, but Ashton – who was part of that team – insists Eddie Jones' side must believe they can end that long wait at Twickenham this weekend.
"Anyone on the day is beatable," Ashton told Sky Sports News.
"It's just that they [New Zealand] win a lot more times than other teams do.
"They win so many in the last few minutes of the game, it's something you can't ever give up on. If you're off on any one little bit of your game, you're going to get hit.
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"It's a great occasion playing them at Twickenham and hopefully I will get the opportunity to be part of it."
Ashton has the benefit of talking from experience, having featured in the 38-21 win over New Zealand six years ago, and he is relishing the chance to do it again after returning from a four-year exile against South Africa last weekend.
"I was obviously over the moon, a little bit on edge watching the game, you want to be involved so much but I was so happy to get on," added the 31-year-old.
"It's been a long time, four years is a long time in rugby.
"It feels like a long journey to get back so it was quite a proud moment for me to get back out there."
Watch: Eddie Jones on how to beat the All Blacks
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Latest Comments
Early days for sure with SP but my gut tells me there could just be something very promising there, and once he fills out defence should be top order too!
Moving porter is a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul, Ireland’s cupboard is pretty bare on both sides of the scrum and Cian Healy sure ain’t lasting 80 any more.
Go to commentsNot so many when you compare it to the squad of 50 plus players used by SA. Four main problems with the team and Schmidt shows he is a good technician but poor international coach by not selecting the best players and rotating and developing key positions.
First, the scrum is woeful if Bell and Thor don’t play. AAA and Nongoor in particular are poor. Talea may be good but is not good enough. Schmidt should select Sio, Ainsley and Latu as the bench front row. All playing well in Europe. He should also be doing better with Pone and perhaps getting him over to France to work on his scrummaging. Pone is our best running prop but poor coaching has killed him. Needs better coaching OS provided eg Skelton and Meafou. Secondly, 9 and 10 combo. McDermott is a confidence player and is terrible on a bad day. He takes several steps before passing which kills the speed of ball and results in turnovers. Better off with Kerr Barlow who is playing well with La Rochelle and making McDermott work on his skills. Edmed probably does need a run too. Thirdly, centre and fullback. Perese is our best defender at centre and should be in the squad. The outside back defence is poor without Joe and needs to be shored up. Wright is also a confidence player and has poor defence. When he is off like he was last week better to replace him with someone like Reece Hodge who has a great boot and good D. Fourthly, lack of ball runners who break tackles outside of Bobby V and Skelton. Wilson is not up to international standard and dosent break tackles nor does McReight. Replace him with Gleeson and Leota on the bench if fit. Would also be better playing Pone than Nongoor as Pone at least has a good running game. Latu also makes ground. Amatesero is also a better player than Williams. Frost has been the standout fine. Finally, player rotation. Schmidt is grinding key players like Bell and Bobby V into dust. He needs to give them breaks by utilising OS players more and developing youngsters. The loss of Meafou to France and the guy who captained Scotland exemplifies the poor coaching and development in Aus.
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