Rarely, if ever, in the history of the game have England rugby players sat in New Zealand and publicly questioned whether the All Blacks’ aura is slipping. Last weekend’s near-miss at Eden Park has done nothing to dilute their optimism and there is confidence within the tourists’ camp as they prepare for Saturday’s pivotal second Test.
Maybe it is too early to suggest the All Blacks are on the slide but, crucially, England sense a vulnerability seldom obvious on Kiwi soil. The Harlequins prop Joe Marler was simply stating a widely-held view when he argued the days of fretting about superior Kiwi skills were gone, regardless of the outcome of this best-of-three series.
A member of the front five who gave New Zealand no leeway at the set pieces in the first Test, Marler detects a sea change in England attitudes. “We went into the game having spent the buildup trying to get rid of this All Black myth, or aura, about how they are invincible,” he said.
“We respect them as a team and know they have several world-class players. They are world champions at the moment, too, but Saturday helped us even further to believe we can go toe to toe with these guys.”
In other words, England’s pack reckon they have already rattled New Zealand, even before such as Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood, Billy Vunipola and Dylan Hartley enter the fray. As a kid growing up in Sussex, the 23-year-old Marler thought of the All Blacks as virtual supermen. Now he is not so sure. “I just automatically thought they have the best players in the world from one to 15 because that’s how you think.
“The All Blacks have always enjoyed making everyone aware they are good at the basics but when you break it down and look at the individuals, there are 15 blokes on a field trying to do the same as you. There are a lot of boys in their team who are world class and we respect that but we have to go out there and give it our best shot.”
The All Blacks, having won 15 consecutive Tests, are entitled to counter that things could be a lot worse. What has changed is the near certainty of victory against touring England sides, while the notion of Stuart Lancaster’s players preferring to slow the game down to a snail’s pace is still provoking snorts of derision. “We want to play at a high tempo and we showed that in the Six Nations when we took France, Ireland and Wales on at that sort of game,” Marler said.
“I didn’t see them running to any of the scrums or lineouts quicker than us. It’s not a tactic of ours to slow the game down. As a spectator or a neutral you’d probably say it wasn’t a great game to watch because there were a lot of dropped balls and set pieces. That’s why the game was slow. It’s nonsense.”
The fly-half Owen Farrell also insists England now “back ourselves against anybody” and detects a widespread conviction within the squad that the series can still be won. “I think that’s always been the case. Our team wouldn’t come here and think they couldn’t win. There is a massive amount of belief in what we are doing here and the boys showed that at the weekend. The game just didn’t happen to fall our way. What we’ve got to do is step up another gear because I’m sure they will come out and do what they do better.”
Even if he scores the winning try in the series, however, Farrell will not be kicking the ball into the stands in celebration, as he did during the Premiership final only to suffer an attack of cramp which ended his involvement. “No, definitely not. I don’t know what I was doing,” he said. “I was cramping up jogging it in, I couldn’t even run. To get up and kick the ball was pretty stupid but I wasn’t really in control.”
