2 weeks Ago
England will face New Zealand for the third match in a row as they kick off a challenging Autumn Nations Series at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium on Saturday. They will be determined to see the job through at their home ground after failing to hold on to leads in their two summer Test defeats in New Zealand. England, who are fifth in the world rankings behind Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand and France, also suffered a narrow defeat in France in their final game of the Six Nations.
Head coach Steve Borthwick, whose team have won four of their eight games this year, wants his players to show they have learned from these tight matches. "There was a period not so long ago where we weren't competing against the top four sides in the world," Borthwick said. "Now we're competing against them, but I want to make sure we get the job finished at the end.
"Make no mistake, I praise the players for their performances and for all their efforts because they've done a lot of good things, but there have also been times where we have lost games as opposed to the opposition winning them." After facing New Zealand, England will play Australia on 9 November, world champions South Africa on 16 November and Eddie Jones' Japan on 24 November. The squad has been rejuvenated since last year's World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa with an influx of young talent, but the departure of defence coach Felix Jones - only seven months after joining the set-up - and highly rated strength and conditioning coach Aled Walters has resulted in a new period of turnover and adjustment.
Oyonnax head coach Joe El-Abd - a former flatmate of Borthwick's - has replaced Jones and will be aiming to build on the success of the Irishman's 'blitz' defence, while Richard Wigglesworth has been promoted to become Borthwick's number two. Meanwhile, the loss of regular starting scrum-half Alex Mitchell for the entire campaign to a neck injury means a change in the vital nine shirt. Other than Mitchell, only Bath's Ben Spencer has started a game at scrum-half this year for England - a disappointing Six Nations defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield.
Leicester Tigers' Jack van Poortvliet, the starting scrum-half before a nasty ankle injury ruled him out of the World Cup, and in-form Bristol Bear Harry Randall are the other two options in Borthwick's squad. But the return of experienced centre Henry Slade in Exeter's Premiership match on Sunday will have given the side a boost. Scott Robertson's tenure as New Zealand head coach began positively with back-to-back wins against England in Dunedin and Auckland.
However, missing out on the Rugby Championship title for the first time since 2019 after a shock defeat by Argentina and two straight losses against the world champion Springboks means a successful autumn is required. Marcus Smith's three missed kicks proved costly in Dunedin as England narrowly fell short of a first win in New Zealand since 2003. Having led at half-time and well into the second half a week later, the visitors failed to register a score in the final quarter as New Zealand fought back to save their proud winning run at Eden Park.
Will it be third time lucky in another tight game against the World Cup runners-up? Victory would be England's ninth from 45 Tests against the All Blacks and their first at Twickenham since the famous 38-12 triumph in December 2012. The last time the sides played at Twickenham, England scored three tries in the final 10 minutes to snatch a 25-25 draw in the penultimate match of Eddie Jones' reign. Former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt is yet to have his first statement win in charge of Australia.
The Wallabies finished rock-bottom of the Rugby Championship, registering only one victory over Argentina, and are in need of a big victory to build belief before the arrival of the British and Irish Lions next year. Australia, ranked the 10th best side in the world, may sense an opportunity to cause an upset when they open their tour against England a week after Borthwick's side face the All Blacks. Schmidt has called up big-money rugby league convert Joseph Suaalii to his squad, even though the 21-year-old back has yet to play a game of professional XVs rugby, while former Leicester Tigers wing Harry Potter could make his debut.
Japan-based centre Samu Kerevi will be another one to watch as Australia as will giant La Rochelle lock Will Skelton, who returns for the first time since captaining the side at last autumn's World Cup. Schmidt's side take on England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The last time England welcomed South Africa to Twickenham was in Jones' final game in charge two years ago, which ended in a 27-13 defeat and boos around the stadium.
England next faced the Springboks in the World Cup semi-final, where a late Handre Pollard penalty ended their hopes of becoming world champions in heartbreaking fashion. This autumn's game offers England an opportunity to avenge that one-point defeat and show how they match up against Rassie Erasmus' experienced side. Following World Cup glory, the Boks continued their trophy-winning ways by picking up their first Rugby Championship since 2019, thrashing Argentina 48-7 in their final game.
The world's number two ranked side, who start their autumn matches against Scotland before facing England and then Wales, also beat New Zealand and Australia twice on their way to the Rugby Championship title. The final game of England's autumn series is likely to offer a chance for some fringe players after an emphatic 52-17 win over Japan's Brave Blossoms in June showed the difference in class. Jones' side, ranked 14th in the world, showed improvement in the Pacific Nations Cup to reach the final with wins against Canada, the United States and Samoa, before being heavily defeated by Fiji.
However, New Zealand hammered his side 64-19 in Yokohama last weekend to further show the gulf in class when matched against the world's top sides. The 64-year-old Jones remained respectful and complimentary to his former assistant coach Borthwick in the build-up to their last encounter. Jones will hope his kind words ensure a warm welcome from England supporters.
There will be live radio commentary of the four matches on BBC Radio 5 Live or Sports Extra as well as BBC Sounds, and you can follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app..
