The All Blacks are set to play England at the iconic Twickenham venue in London on Sunday morning. File photo. Photo: Photosport
The hostile Twickenham environment can't be overlooked as the All Blacks look to avenge their 2019 World Cup semi-final loss to England, writes Jamie Wall.
You can always count on Aaron Smith to come and say what we are all thinking, and a bit more. At the All Blacks' hotel on Tuesday, the veteran halfback confirmed that this test this weekend against England at Twickenham does feel different, that it gets his blood pumping a little bit more - but not solely because of what happened the last time the two sides met.
"This is a great opportunity for us to show how far we've come as a group," Smith said, clearly referring to the low points reached with home losses to Ireland and Argentina this season.
"There's no better test than playing England at home."
There's been plenty of talk around the size of the Black Ferns' crowd for the World Cup final, but this weekend will see the All Blacks play in front of their largest audience this season. 82,000 will pour into the iconic home of English rugby for a fixture that could easily be sold out four times over, with the inevitable tales of how hard it is to get tickets to the iconic venue rivaling the conjecture about the match itself.
That may well be because it's a pretty difficult one to pick. Ever since the draw for this year got announced, this game has been circled as the marker for where the All Blacks are at heading into the 2023 Rugby World Cup, another fact Smith was willing to concede.
England coach Eddie Jones has claimed the All Blacks are "there for the taking". Photo: Photosport / ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
It's not the most flawless of projections, though. England's season has just started, they've had mixed results so far with a loss to Argentina and a win over Japan by a team that will be adjusted for the All Black test. That hasn't stopped Eddie Jones chiming in with his usual headline-grabbing antics, claiming that the All Blacks are "there for the taking" after their close win over Scotland.
Even though that's tame by Jones' standards, the banter war is one he will always win. Ian Foster looked unimpressed but refused to be drawn on the English coach's comments in the aftermath of the Murrayfield escape act, saying:
"I think it just means he's said something. They can think whatever they want."
It was said with an air of confident dismissal, which fits in nicely with the fact that the All Blacks are showing signs of being the All Blacks we are used to. That's not so much about consistency as just finding ways to win, either. The dying stages of the win against Scotland did very much feel like they had assessed the situation and adjusted accordingly, something that All Black teams are renowned for, and other test sides find extremely difficult.
This is different, though. Gone is the good nature of the Welsh and Scots, who welcomed in the All Blacks with a sense of reverence that ultimately played a role in their defeats. Twickenham is a cauldron of hostility; it is where the class-signifying essence of rugby in this part of the world can literally be felt, from the carparks full of Range Rovers to the defiant singing of a song that makes one of their best players wince. It comes cascading off down the stands like the torrential rain that greeted both teams when they last played here four years ago.
That fixture, that ended in a controversial 16-15 win to the All Blacks (however was a good enough return for Jones to save his job), is probably a better precursor to this weekend's test than the Rugby World Cup semifinal a year later.
At that point in the 2018 season, questions needed to be answered by both sides. The All Blacks, no matter how good their last six wins have been, are still under the microscope after their four losses earlier this season. England seem to be constantly under it anyway because of their inconsistency, at least since Jones oversaw them win 18 tests in a row.
They are missing Courtney Lawes, plus the Argentina result suggests it isn't a great England team (at least not right now), but the Twickenham factor can't be overlooked. Not even Aaron Smith would say out loud that the English are the one team the All Blacks hate losing to more than anyone else, but we all know that to be true. He did leave us with this, though:
"It gets the blood going. I woke up Sunday morning saying this is where you want to be, playing England."
