England were superb. A year or two ago, it was clear they were talented but they didn't use their brains. Lots of ill discipline and poor decision making. Today, they were immense. Discipline and tactics were spot on. Struggling to think of a better England performance. Maybe the one where we beat them the ABs in their own backyard in 2003/04. Regardless, a brilliant effort.
New Zealand's biggest problem is they're so cutthroat with their selections that as soon as a world class player has a dip in form they are dropped and replaced by the new kid on the block.
You look at their backline and they have absolutely no experience in there other than Beauden who is shunted to 15.
Then compare it to the 2011 and 2015 back lines.
Actually I reckon I'll quite enjoy it :)
That's a good point. I wonder how many caps the backs have.
I just looked at it and it's crazy, 4 of their backs are in their first proper year of test rugby. They dropped Reiko Ioane - one of the best players in the world for the past 4 years - for george bridge who got his 4th cap in Japan.
Left Ben Smith and his 2 world cups / 90 caps on the bench for Sevu Reece and his 6 caps.