Joe Marler has sold England down the river – Andy Goode

Joe Marler’s haka comments have been an unwelcome sideshow and the main event needed no help to achieve top billing.

This is England v New Zealand at Twickenham, a fixture that is taking place at Twickenham for just the third time in the last decade and one which England have only won once on home soil in the past 22 years.

Anyone in their right mind knows that Marler’s remarks were offensive to an entire nation and culture, he’s written the All Blacks’ team talk for them and hasn’t helped his teammates one bit after he left camp for personal reasons earlier in the week.

Jamie George may have described it as “classic Joe” and made it clear that he disagrees with him but I think the England captain and head coach Steve Borthwick should have gone further, expressing their disappointment at being sold down the river.

Jamie George (R) talks to Joe Marler during the England training session held at Pennyhill Park on August 21, 2023 in Bagshot, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

It has understandably caused a major storm in New Zealand and Marler wasn’t even going to be involved in the game on Saturday so it has taken all the attention away from those that deserve the focus to be on them.

This is as settled an England side as we’ve seen for some time, with very little debate at all about any of the selection calls, and it’s as good a chance as they’ve ever had to beat the All Blacks on their own turf.

They have beaten them five times at Twickenham over the years but they’ve all been shocks in truth. In 1983 England emerged victorious after winning no games and finishing bottom in that year’s Five Nations, while New Zealand were massive favourites in 1993.

You could argue England were favourites in 2002 as they were sweeping all before them and on their way to lifting the World Cup but they certainly weren’t in 2012 when the All Blacks were reigning world champions, featured the likes of Richie McCaw, Kieran Read, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu and Dan Carter and it was their first defeat in 22 Tests.

This time around, England may have lost both meetings in the summer narrowly and New Zealand may have had more time to establish their way of playing under Scott Robertson but the men in white will be bitterly disappointed if they lose.

If you say they’re expecting to win, then it might come across as arrogant and sound like you’re overstating things but that should obviously be the mentality behind closed doors if they have aspirations to become the team most of us think they can be.

There is a huge amount of talent and potential in this England side and they did finish third in the World Cup under Borthwick and pull off a statement win over Ireland back in March but they have lost three of four games since then.

England boss Steve Borthwick (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

This is Borthwick’s 25^th Test in charge and he has a 54 per cent win ratio, which clearly isn’t good enough for an England head coach, so we’re at a stage now where he needs results as well as signs of progress.

He and his players will obviously know that and nobody wants to be constantly talked about as valiant losers or improving but not quite there. Winning is a habit and one that England need to get into at this stage in their evolution.

The All Blacks only won half their games in the recent Rugby Championship and don’t have the aura of teams gone by but there are some outstanding individuals in their ranks and some mouthwatering match-ups.

Ben Earl v Ardie Savea, Chandler Cunningham-South v Wallace Sititi and George Furbank v Will Jordan are a few of the best but Marcus Smith v Beauden Barrett has to be the headline attraction.

The visiting fly-half is without doubt a world-class player capable of game-breaking moments and with a very good body of work already under his belt but last month was his first Test in the All Black number 10 jersey for two years and I don’t think he’s had too many displays during the course of his international career that you would describe as a “complete performance” for a fly-half.

He is also 33 years of age now and the man he’s up against is eight years his junior, hungry and probably in need of a standout game where he completely runs the show and announces himself as a fly-half on the world stage.

Beauden Barrett of New Zealand looks on during The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match between New Zealand All Blacks and Australia Wallabies at Sky Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

It’ll be interesting to see how the Barrett brothers play together as well as it’s the first time that Beauden and Jordie are lining up alongside one another at 10 and 12 in international rugby.

From an England point of view, I expect them to carry on with the blitz defence that they’ve worked hard on under Felix Jones and I think facing that style of defence has been a question mark over Beauden Barrett previously.

If you stand off him, he’ll make you look a fool and has the ability to rip you to shreds but he isn’t necessarily a fly-half who wants to take on the line when it’s coming at him hard and you keep him quiet by putting him under as much pressure as possible and hunting in packs.

New Zealand’s short kicking game is the best in the world at times and is an effective tool to negate the blitz so George Furbank and Ben Spencer, in particular, have a big job on to make sure every blade of grass is covered.

England need to focus on their own attack as much if not more than combatting the opposition’s though and get Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman into the game as much as they can.

Rieko Ioane is a wonderful player but I don’t think he’s the best defender at outside centre so England need to play to an edge and have structure in their attack to give them options at the line and with the ball out the back with everyone in motion.

Where England did come unstuck in the summer, and their skipper has spoken about it publicly this week, was at set piece. Ethan de Groot will be a big loss for the All Blacks but they are strong in that area nowadays.

England have to get at least parity at scrum time and then back themselves to play with confidence and a bit of freedom rather than getting into an arm-wrestle and relying on the kicking game because New Zealand with soak that up.

They also have one of the most lethal back threes in world rugby with Caleb Clarke and Mark Tele’a as well as Jordan, who has scored a phenomenal 35 tries in 37 Tests, and they’ll exploit any loose kicks.

Manny Feyi-Waboso has emerged as one of the most exciting talents in years on the wing for England (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

If England have designs on being considered one of the best teams in the world then they have to beat the best, especially on their own patch, and New Zealand are in the top four along with South Africa, Ireland and France.

The statement win under Borthwick was without doubt the one over the Irish at Twickenham and this does have the potential to be another because of the history of the fixture but I think it’s one England should be winning at home given how the two sides look on paper and where they are in their respective evolutions.

It’s important for Borthwick given that aforementioned 54 per cent win ratio, it’s huge because it’s the first Test of the autumn and sets the tone but it also feels massive because at least three wins out of four is needed to constitute success this month.

If they don’t beat the All Blacks, not only will Joe Schmidt be licking his lips next week but it puts a lot of pressure on the game against the world champions in a couple of weeks’ time and that is one in which England will rightly be underdogs.

Now is the time for this England side to start putting a stake in the ground and winning big games and they won’t have it all their own way by any means but I expect them to get the job done with a four-point win.