All Blacks v England: Five storylines as Razor's men aim to avoid ...

Ahead of the opening Test of the All Blacks v England series at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, we have picked out five storylines to follow in Saturday’s clash.

It seems like forever since Scott Robertson was appointed as All Blacks head coach but finally the time has come to see his team take to the field. Ian Foster steered New Zealand to within a hair’s breadth of another Rugby World Cup triumph but his fate had already been decided as he bowed out late last year.

Robertson is now in charge and with seven straight Super Rugby titles in his locker, there is excitement in the country over what he could achieve at Test level.

His decision to install former Crusaders colleague Scott Barrett as captain was down, in part, to familiarity and New Zealand fans now hope a similar success to that of the Crusaders finds its way to the All Blacks. The question is will Razor have an immediate impact or is time needed for his master plan to take shape?

Leading on from this query, it will be interesting to see how this new All Blacks side fares on its first outing since the Rugby World Cup final. Will it be more evolution, not revolution under Robertson and if it is the latter then patience may be needed as errors could be prevalent in this opening clash with England.

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There’s a new half-back combination as TJ Perenara links up with Damian McKenzie while Stephen Perofeta is handed the full-back jersey, so that might need time to bed in. Rustiness against such a well-oiled northern hemisphere side could be costly and it will be interesting to see how they fare in this game.

As is the case in these opening mid-year Tests, the northern hemisphere sides arrive with greater familiarity due to the Six Nations having ended in March. For England they also have a recent hit-out with Japan in their locker, which means they land in New Zealand comfortable and confident in their own plan.

Steve Borthwick will hope this gives them a leg-up against their opponents on Saturday as combinations are settled and morale is high from that Brave Blossoms success. Their half-backs have a spring in their step while any rust they had after the Six Nations has now been flushed out. Could this sway the result?

Where to start? Every single individual battle excites in this fixture, but the box office duels definitely come at number eight, fly-half, centre and wing. There’s Ardie Savea v Ben Earl, McKenzie v Marcus Smith, Jordie Barrett v Ollie Lawrence, Mark Tele’a v Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Sevu Reece v Tommy Freeman.

Of course the number eight and fly-half tussles are most likely from the above to sway the result but up front there is also the scrum where an ageing England front-row takes on a much-improved All Blacks set-piece trio in recent times and also captain Barrett facing off against Maro Itoje. Subplots galore in Dunedin.

Many, including us, predicted that it would be Beauden Barrett wearing number 15 for the All Blacks this Saturday. However, Robertson has rewarded Perofeta for his Super Rugby Pacific form and given him a big opportunity to stake his claim for the jersey long term, with Barrett covering two roles on the bench.

England will no doubt target Perofeta with an aerial assault and he will have to be on his game in that department or New Zealand could find themselves on the back foot. Perofeta is certainly a talented, ball playing full-back, but one wonders if the more experienced Barrett was the safer option at 15. Time will tell.

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