LONDON (AP) — The boos rained down from the Twickenham terraces and George Ford took the brunt of it.
England had just lost to New Zealand 24-22 a year ago. Ford had two chances in the dying moments to win the game and his penalty hit the post and a dropped goal flew wide.
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Coach Steve Borthwick also came under fire for his poor replacement strategy; sending on Ford, rusty from five weeks off, and yanking Marcus Smith, who was in the form of his life and goalkicked all five of his shots.
Borthwick and Ford are still hitched together as England hosts the All Blacks on Saturday, looking to cap a year of redemption.
Ford made way for the novice Fin Smith in the Six Nations and while Fin Smith went to Australia mid-year with the British and Irish Lions, never-been-a-Lion Ford co-captained a depleted England to an impressive series victory in Argentina and played his 100th test.
Borthwick has coached England to nine consecutive wins, its longest streak in eight years, and earned a reputation for bold selections by building a team in which he can stack the bench with six Lions, nicknamed the ‘pom squad,’ a pun on South Africa’s ‘bomb squad.’
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Borthwick’s appreciation of Ford runs to predicting he could be a future England coach.
“He’s a phenomenal player and many years from now he’s going to be a brilliant coach,” Borthwick said. “His character and understanding of the game means I wouldn’t be in any way surprised if he was England head coach at some point.”
A winning confidence, powerful bench, breakdown detail, pinpoint high kicks and close-in defense have England believing it can top the All Blacks at home for the first time since 2012.
But the All Blacks are also confident. “History matters and how you’ve done it,” coach Scott Robertson said. “You look at what other teams have done before and how we can tap into that.”
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Australia is on course for its first European tour without a win in 67 years as it faces Ireland after losses to England and Italy. Legacy came up for second-year coach Joe Schmidt and he’s ruing the drop in results since August while trying to restock the Wallabies before passing them to Les Kiss next year.
“You want to leave things set up and that was really my commitment to Les and to Rugby Australia, that I try to leave it so it’s ready to go,” Schmidt said.
Elsewhere, South Africa is in Italy, France hosts Fiji and the Wales-Japan outcome in Cardiff will have a bearing on their 2027 Rugby World Cup draw next month. Wales is ranked 12th and Japan 13th and the loser will draw two big teams in a pool instead of one, reducing the chance of making the playoffs.
Scotland takes on Argentina on Sunday.
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Team talk
England, after beating Fiji 38-18, has restored most of the team that handled Australia 25-7 two weeks ago. The injured Ollie Chessum and Tommy Freeman have been replaced by Alex Coles and Ollie Lawrence.
New Zealand dropped flanker Wallace Sititi to the bench and recalled the taller Simon Parker as a starter. Billy Proctor was at center after Leicester Fainga’anuku switched to the wing for the concussed Caleb Clarke.
Sam Prendergast has Ireland’s No. 10 jersey for a change and regular wing Mack Hansen makes his first test start at fullback after injuries ruled out Hugo Keenan and Jamie Osborne.
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The Wallabies have been freshened by inside backs James O’Connor and Len Ikitau, Max Jorgensen at fullback, and Allan Alaalatoa to the front row.
South Africa’s 11 changes were planned before the team beat France last weekend, and there isn’t a hooker in the reserves. No. 8 Marco van Staden will cover No. 2 Johan Grobbelaar. Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada called the move “very intelligent management” with some risk.
Italy has been strengthened by players who did not tour South Africa in July, when the tests were lost 42-24 and 45-0. They include stand-in captain Juan Ignacio Brex, Ange Capuozzo, Monty Ioane, Paolo Garbisi, Tommaso Allan, Martin Page-Relo, Simone Ferrari and Federico Ruzza.
Louis Rees-Zammit makes his first start for Wales following his NFL tryout. The winger briefly shone off the bench in the Argentina loss. Leicester No. 8 Olly Cracknell has his first test start in place of injured captain Jac Morgan.
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France recalled Gregory Alldritt and made him captain in place of the dropped Gael Fickou while flanker Charles Ollivon is at lock for the injured Thibeau Flament. “Having spoken with his (club) coach, it makes sense,” France coach Fabien Galthie said.
Out of action
England winger Tommy Freeman (hamstring) and Ireland fullback Jamie Osborne (shoulder) have been ruled out of the rest of the autumn series.
Wales suffered a huge blow when its captain and best player Jac Morgan dislocated his left shoulder in the act of scoring a try against Argentina last weekend. He faces surgery and doubt he’ll be ready for the start of the Six Nations in February.
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Also missing for the rest of the month is South Africa lock Lood de Jager after his red card against France earned a four-game sanction. De Jager paid for a no-arms tackle to the head of Thomas Ramos.
Off the field
Welsh rugby CEO Abi Tierney began a phased return this week following cancer treatment.
Tierney stepped down in mid-August. But she stayed close to the WRU leadership amid plans to transform the failing professional game, including cutting one of the four regional sides.
“Abi’s return brings strength and continuity at a time of change,” WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood said.
Tierney was appointed as the WRU’s first female CEO in August 2023.
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
