England are on a run of nine wins in a row, their best sequence since the early, heady days of former head coach Eddie Jones, and a win over New Zealand at Twickenham this Saturday would take the team now guided by Steve Borthwick up to third in the world rankings – a position they last held, briefly, back in February 2022.
But how solid is this winning streak, considering only one of the victories came against a side ranked in the world’s top four: France, with a last-minute try by Elliot Daly, in February?
The glamour clash with the All Blacks in England’s third match of the autumn series will provide the cast-iron evidence either way.
Maro Itoje, the England captain, noted on Thursday how New Zealand have maintained a consistent presence between first and third in the rankings – they are currently second behind South Africa – and he did not need to spell out England’s inability to say the same.
And you can tell Borthwick rates this match as a specific and significant challenge.
“There is no doubt here, this week, playing against New Zealand, the team is going to have to dig very, very deep,” Borthwick said on Tuesday.
“This team is going to have to go into a place where there is pain and it’s suffering, and there’s going to be this need to keep running, a need for this to be the most selfless team performance England have produced, because that’s how good New Zealand are.
“The players are going to have to give absolutely everything of themselves.”
Argentina remain the biggest 2025 scalp
It was Ireland who began England’s 2025 on a low note with a 27-22 Six Nations win in Dublin.
This maintained the downbeat mood of England’s less than fond farewell to 2024: the November losses at home to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
But since the setback in Dublin, they have swept through the next nine matches, their best run since the 18 wins – 17 under Jones – from October 2015 to March 2017 (ended, as it happened, by losing in Ireland).
Most impressively in the current run, England jumped above then fifth-ranked Argentina by beating them twice away in July, with scorelines of 35-12 in La Plata and 22-17 in San Juan.
The Pumas rotated their team, yes, but England had 13 top players absent with the British & Irish Lions from the start, and Jamie George departed for Australia after the first Test, in which England’s try-line defence was a stand-out feature.
And while knocking over Scotland, Australia, Fiji, Italy, Wales and USA has caused no ripples in the worldwide scheme of things, it has built confidence in individuals and combinations, as well as the kicking game likely to feature again this weekend.
Farrell (left) and Tuilagi were at the heart of England’s last win over New Zealand in 2019 (Photo: Getty)Now for New Zealand – a fixture always loaded with baggage for England, who since they won the World Cup in 2003, they have played the All Blacks 21 times and won two: the 2012 match at Twickenham with Manu Tuilagi on the charge, and the 2019 World Cup semi-final in Yokohama when Owen Farrell grinned through the haka.
England’s last four attempts have been close, with a cumulative points margin of 10, including a 25-25 draw in 2022, and a 24-22 defeat this time last year. But “close” doesn’t win you World Cups.
New Zealand vulnerable?
This week has had a notably different ambience, perhaps due to the winning influence, and New Zealand being partly in transition.
The All Blacks have a batch of players new to Twickenham, with only Scott and Beauden Barrett, Ardie Savea, Codie Taylor and Will Jordan back from last year.
Meanwhile, Borthwick has been speaking more bullishly about his selections, and he has acted to deal with a specific problem of fading at the finish line – not least in the hurtful hour of final quarters across three Tests against New Zealand in 2024, during which England failed to score a single point.
Nabbing a late try to win the second Test in Argentina in July gave a boost.
The ‘Pom squad’ has yet to explode
England now feel able to back-load their bench with experience, principally the front-rowers Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart, and flanker Tom Curry, a “Pom squad” to rival South Africa’s “bomb squad”, you might say.
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But Borthwick prefers “the bench” or something equally unflashy.
In fact, England have not quite gone nuclear so far this autumn, with second-rows Alex Coles and Maro Itoje each kept in reserve until the last 10 minutes of the 25-7 win over Australia and 38-18 defeat of Fiji, respectively.
But Itoje is central to the ploy this week, as the skipper is expected to play the full 80 minutes while five or six other forwards are swapped around him.
There are other critical factors England will need to get right, to convince the doubters: Borthwick rates New Zealand’s scrum and maul highly, banter with his opposite number Scott Robertson has centred on which team kicks the most (usually England), and Sale Sharks coach Byron McGuigan has been brought in to work on England’s defence this autumn.
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Since 2003, England have regularly nudged at the summit of rugby’s Everest without quite conquering the peak.
They lack the historic aura of the All Blacks or the glow felt by Ireland in their recent Six Nations successes and South Africa as double world champions.
Winning this weekend would be a huge step towards that.
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