It was probably to be expected that an England team coached by a Kiwi should tune up for the Test series that gets under way in New Zealand on Thursday by crashing into some tackle bags.
Rugby runs through the blood in these parts and at one stage Brendon McCullum came close to throwing his lot in with the sport himself. As the spirit guide for England’s white-ball transformation, and now a more direct architect of the Test side’s recent rebirth, it’s a case of what might have been.
