Some matches are important as milestones in a team’s development. Think South Africa’s last minute draw vs New Zealand in Wellington in 2019; the spirit and fight of which epitomised the Boks’ evolving transformation under Rassie Erasmus. A transformation that made them world champions later that year.
The stakes are not as high for the two teams today with the game falling in the middle of the world cup cycle for both Steve Borthwick and Scott Robertson, but there is the sense that a win today would be a statement. England have not lost since the opening weekend of the Six Nations in Dublin; a run including a tour to Argentina when shorn of their Lions contingent and victory over Australia two weeks ago. Yet still doubts persist about the quality and consistency of Borthwick’s gameplan against the top tier sides.
The All Blacks are such mixed bag that they could have been bought from a 1990s provincial Woolworth’s. Their 2025 features wins in the Rugby Championship, but also the biggest defeat in their history against South Africa. Added to this, they are broadly failing the eye test in matches, with their patterns and shape often wanting, and the issue that discernible way of playing has still not emerge from the fog of Robertson’s months in charge. Luckily for them, they still have their traditional arsenal of enviable talent to fling at any problem and this is often enough to get then a win.
All of this is put to the test at Twickenham in a few hours. England must win this if they are to demonstrate their recent improvements are not built on sand; while New Zealand must win this because they are New Zealand.