Auckland is the venue for Saturday's second international rugby test between New Zealand and England, last week's first test was won narrowly by the All Blacks who will be looking for significant improvement.
New Zealand v England, Saturday 13th July, Auckland, KO 09:05 (South African time)
Referee: Nic Berry (RA)
Assistant Referees: Damon Murphy (RA), Pierre Brousset (FFR)
TMO: Brett Cronan (RA)
Weather Forecast – Auckland
New Zealand:
Scott Robertson's first game in charge of the All Blacks saw his side start the first test in Dunedin last week as 11.5 point favourites on the main handicap line but they were forced to dig deep to edge the contest 16-15. The AB's started well with tries from Sevu Reece and Ardie Savea which were not converted but it was level at 10-10 at half time. Damian McKenzie did land two second half penalties after they had fallen behind and he missed an opportunity to add to the lead late on when he was timed out whilst lining up another penalty.
Prior to the first test New Zealand had not been in action since losing the final of RWC 2023 to South Africa (12-11) in Paris in October and thye looked rusty at times. Scrum half TJ Perenara picked up an injury in Dunedin that will see home miss this second test.
England:
Maro Itoje scored England's first half try in the first test, converted by Marcus Smith who also landed a penalty. A second half try from Immanuel Feyi-Waboso put them 15-10 in the lead but after two All Blacks penalties they couldn't get their noses back in front. Joe Marler picked up an injury and has been ruled out of the second test.
England had tuned up for this tour with a 52-17 victory over Japan in Tokyo two weeks ago where they scored 4 tries in each half via 8 different players.
In the Six Nations earlier this year England finished third with their stand out result being a 23-22 victory over Ireland at Twickenham in Round 4 which ultimately denied Ireland another Grand Slam. They started that tournament with a 27-24 win in Italy and then beat Wales 16-14 at Twickenham. Next up they went down 30-21 in Scotland and after turning the Irish over England finished up by going down 33-31 in France.
Team News
New Zealand: 15 Stephen Perofeta; 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Mark Tele’a; 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Finlay Christie; 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Dalton Papali’i, 6 Samipeni Finau; 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Scott Barrett (captain); 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan De Groot.
Replacements: 16 Beauden Barrett, 17 Anton Lienert-Brown, 18 Cortez Ratima, 19 Luke Jacobson, 20 Tupou Vaa’i, 21 Fletcher Newell, 22 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 23 Asafo Aumua
England: 15 George Furbank, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Tommy Freeman, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George (captain), 1 Fin Baxter.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Ollie Sleightholme
Recent Head to Head
Aside from the first test last week the most recent meeting came in November 2022 at Twickenham and it finished in a draw (25-25).
In RWC 2019 in Japan England beat the All Blacks 19-7 in the semi finals
England have only ever beaten the All Blacks twice on New Zealand soil. They last toured New Zealand in 2014 and the All Blacks won all 3 matches, in Auckland (20-15), in Dunedin (28-27) and in Hamilton (36-13).
The Betting
New Zealand -10.5 points at 9/10
England +10.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
England were excellent last week but I can’t help feeling they let their best chance of victory in this series slip away.
The All Blacks played some excellent rugby but were not quite the finished product but back at Eden Park a ground they have not lost at since 1994 they are always a different beat.
The handicap opened -9.5 but has shifted to -10.5 so the money is coming for the home team.
I am tempted by the minus but my preferred bet is England under 21.5 points.
It looks like there will be some rain about and only Australia have scored 22 points or more at Eden Park (twice) in the last 10 tests.
BET: 5 units England under 21.5 points at 8/10 at Pokerbet*
*You can open a Pokerbet Account by clicking here
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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