The Autumn Internationals start with a classic at ProSieben: the All Blacks challenge England in Twickenham on Saturday afternoon. Photo (c) World Rugby
The Autumn Internationals start with an absolute classic. On Saturday afternoon, rugby’s motherland, England, welcomes the All Blacks to the legendary Twickenham Stadium. This duel has been explosive enough for over 120 years, but an England veteran added fuel to the fire with his statements before the start of the game. This will be followed by the duel between two incredibly playful teams at Murrayfield, also on ProSieben (for an overview).
England – New Zealand
Saturday November 2nd 3:55 p.m., Twickenham Stadium London (live on ProSieben Maxx and ran.de)
As if any additional motivation was needed before the All Blacks’ duel with England. “He knew exactly what he was doing,” said New Zealand veteran Sam Cane, who criticized Joe Marler’s comments. During the week, Marler described the haka as “ridiculous” and suggested that it belonged in the trash can. Marler has since apologized for his tweet and emphasized that he should have “worded his thoughts better.”
New Zealand coach Scott Robertson, who will be coaching at the legendary Twickenham Stadium for the first time, remained friendly in tone but tough in substance. The Haka is not about the team, but about all of New Zealand and the country’s culture. According to the Crusaders’ former successful coach, the right answer will be given on the pitch.
In the summer, these two teams faced each other in New Zealand, with the All Blacks just coming out on top
The fact that England have not been able to win a game against the All Blacks since their famous semi-final victory at the 2019 World Cup speaks of how difficult the task will be for Steve Borthwick’s team, even if they are playing in front of over 80,000 of their own fans at Twickenham. However, the motherland in New Zealand were competitive this summer, losing by less than one try each time.
In New Zealand, however, the pressure on the All Blacks has recently increased. They finished the Rugby Championship only behind the South Africans, had no chance against them, lost again at home to the Pumas and almost gave up a huge lead in Sydney. So it’s not surprising that Coach Robertson chose Beauden Barrett in the connector position, pushing last-placed Damien McKenzie onto the bench.
The All Blacks have little experience in the half position, where starter Cortez Ratima and replacement Cam Roigard only make 14 appearances together. For the English team, Fin Baxter, who is still very inexperienced with only two appearances, sits on the bench, while Joe Marler was eliminated after his comments. As on the summer tour, Marcus Smith plays from the connector position, while the in-form Ben Spencer is now at his side in the number nine position.
Scotland – Fiji
Saturday November 2nd 6:20 p.m., Murrayfield Edinburgh (live on ProSieben Maxx and ran.de)
There isn’t quite as much fire in this game as there was in the previous game at Twickenham. The almost 70,000 spectators in Edinburgh will have to do without some of their teams’ stars. Among others, Blair Kinghorn, Ben White, Semi Radradra, Eroni Mawi and a certain Finn Russel are missing – the reason: the international window doesn’t officially start until next week and therefore the clubs from the Premiership and Top 14 are not forced to release their stars.
Nevertheless, this duel is definitely worth watching, because hardly any other pairing in international rugby brings together teams that are so keen to play. Fiji has the great advantage of having just played the Pacific Nations Cup, in which the Flying Fijians were able to clearly prevail against Japan, the USA and Canada without the majority of their European professionals. A large part of the team knows each other from the Fijian Drua, who are the only Fijian franchise to play in Super Rugby.
For the Scots, the focus is on coach Gregor Townsend, who is coaching his 83rd game in the eighth year of his career as Scotland coach. No British coach has coached a national team for such a long time, with Townsend overtaking the legendary Sir Clive Woodward. Townsend has chosen Sione Tuipulotu as captain, Adam Hastings replaces captain Russel and in-form Glasgow playmaker Tom Jordan will be one of five newcomers to make his debut off the bench.
