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All Blacks' skipper Scott Barrett's take on England 'pressure game'
By PA
New Zealand captain Scott Barrett insists the All Blacks must avoid another arm wrestle if they are to win the second Test against England in style.
The rivals clash at Eden Park where the All Blacks have not been defeated since 1994 and the expectation among fans is to continue that run while scoring tries.
A 16-15 victory in Dunedin gave them a winning start to the series, but their attack spluttered in an attritional second half.
“The thing about Test-match rugby is there are different styles of play,” Barrett told reporters.
“England force you into a pressure sort of game – that’s rush ‘D’, high balls and breakdown pressure.
“That’s the battle and sometimes they take your game away from you – the expansive All Black game.
“Our challenge is to win the breakdown, get good ball, and hopefully we can play some of that All Black rugby.”
England were dealt a blow on the eve of the second Test after George Furbank was ruled out of the Auckland showdown by a back injury.
Furbank was singled out as the tourists’ dangerman by opposite number Stephen Perofeta earlier in the week but his late injury setback means his cutting edge in attack will be missing at Eden Park.
Freddie Steward replaces Furbank at full-back in his first appearance for England since February 10 when he started against Wales in the Six Nations.
Steward has even been overlooked for the bench since losing his place to Furbank, who provides the team with more of a counter-attacking threat while also an accomplished defender.
The Leicester Tiger was a foundation stone of England’s backline as he quickly compiled 33 caps, but his expertise under the high ball and command of the backfield have made way for a new emphasis on attack.
Steward has trained throughout the summer tour but Saturday’s second and final Test against the All Blacks will be his first appearance since May 18 when Leicester defeated Exeter – almost two months ago.
“It is massively disappointing for George, he has been brilliant in the way he has been playing this season,” England scrum coach Tom Harrison told reporters.
“But on a brighter note we have got depth in that position and a world class player in Freddie Steward coming in.
“Wherever we go, we play to our strengths. I don’t think it changes our approach too much.
“Freddie has been working hard on the things that George has been good at and George has been working hard on the things that Freddie is good at, so when moments like this happen players are always ready to step into the plan.
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Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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