Four Weddings and a Funeral had just been released and Wet Wet Wet were topping the charts the last time the All Blacks were beaten at Eden Park. An English defeat on Saturday, however, is not seen as inevitable by the visitors with Steve Borthwick claiming the heaviest weight of expectation is on New Zealand to preserve their 30-year unbeaten run.
The head coach, who has been seeking clarity around the scrum officiating in the first Test, is adamant his side still have plenty in the tank at the end of a marathon season and has been fired up by a throwaway line from a Kiwi fan he met in Dunedin last Sunday. “There is a lot of talk this week about the record,” said Borthwick, having announced a near-identical lineup for the second and final Test.
“It is not our record, it is their record. They are the ones who have to try and keep it. It is not us. The pressure and expectation is on them. When I was leaving Dunedin, there was a New Zealand supporter who said how well he thought we’d done. But then he said, ‘You will get beaten next week and we will beat you with style’. So there’s an expectation that New Zealand will beat us with style.
“We were really disappointed we didn’t win last weekend. They talked a lot afterwards about relief. By watching them and seeing what was going on in their coach’s box we certainly caused some stress. Hopefully, we can do that again.”
Borthwick also says he senses “an eagerness for the challenge” within his squad after confirming Fin Baxter as his starting loosehead prop in place of the injured Joe Marler. The 22-year-old Baxter survived a demanding Test baptism off the bench in last Saturday’s 16-15 defeat and has now been entrusted with the No 1 jersey with Sale’s Bevan Rodd among the replacements.
It may not be entirely coincidental, then, that England raised the topic of scrummaging in their routine pre-match chat with the referee, Australia’s Nic Berry. “He was on touch as an assistant referee last week so he would have had a very good view of all aspects of the game,” said Borthwick.
“We’ll ask him the areas he has seen and what his view of this weekend’s game will be. Clearly, the scrum will be one of those areas. We will ask for Nic Berry’s perspective and we will put forward what we have seen and have a conversation.”
Borthwick never publicly discusses the interpretations of referees but several UK-based front-row experts have queried the legality of Ethan de Groot’s scrummaging in the first Test. Jamie George has hinted there were similar feelings in the England camp. “What people have said is out there and pretty clear to see,” said the tourists’ captain.
“We have had some good feedback from World Rugby around what their take on it was. We have every confidence in Nic Berry making sure he makes the right call. There are [also] definite technical changes we can make that will, I think, make the pictures a lot clearer.”
With Dan Cole primed to rumble on in the second half for his 115th cap, which will make him English rugby’s most-capped male forward, the front-row tussle is again set to be crucial.
It all helps to sprinkle extra spice on another potentially gripping contest, for which the only change in the All Blacks’ starting XV is the inclusion at scrum-half of Finlay Christie for the injured TJ Perenara.
Borthwick has even been referencing academic studies that suggest the concept of home advantage in sport is primarily down to noisy crowds subconsciously swaying officials. “Every study I have read says it comes down to the impact it [home advantage] has on the referee,” he said. “They started doing studies through Covid, when there weren’t supporters in the ground, and the impact that had on officiating. You will have to read the social science of it … but it generally has an impact on the referee.”
England are also understandably keen to take inspiration from their footballing cousins in Germany. They were as enthused as anyone by the semi-final outcome against the Netherlands, with Marcus Smith organising a football-themed medley of songs on the team bus and George, an Aston Villa fan, particularly relishing Ollie Watkins’s winning goal.
“Gareth Southgate texted Steve to say they watched our game on Saturday, which was quite cool,” George said. “We just hope we can keep that positive curve of English sport going.”
Borthwick, who has remained in regular contact with Southgate since taking the England job, says he continues to have “enormous respect” for his round-ball counterpart. “He has been incredibly helpful and supportive to me. He came and spoke to the team before the Rugby World Cup and I met him this year to pick his brain on a few things.
“I’m just delighted watching his team progress. There’s always pressure on the England team – whether it’s football, rugby or cricket. The way he handles that, leads that group and gets the players to trust the process … now they’re competing in the final.”
