Five things we need to see at Twickenham today

The All Blacks come to Twickenham today looking to take another

step towards an unbeaten year by avenging last December’s record

38-21 loss to England. The Kiwis are world sport’s form team, on

the mother of all rolls and their star player (OK, one of their

myriad star players) is celebrating his 100th cap. Kind of a

big deal, then. So what do England need to pull from the locker to

upset the odds again?

1. “Controlled violence”. At the breakdown,

that is, rather than in the car park. In the aftermath of last

year’s home triumph, Lion coach Warren Gatland used the phrase to

describe England’s forwards’ sheer physicality and speed into the

contact zones. If England are to get anywhere near the Kiwis again,

they’ll need to repeat this trick and get their heads in where it

hurts. Chris Robshaw will lead by example and Tom Wood and Courtney

Lawes, in particular, will I’m sure be only too happy to jump

(horizontally) in.

2. A flawless Farrell. England’s scrum will be

our strongest area and should draw penalties all afternoon; Owen

Farrell will have to be at his metronomic best to ensure he

converts these and keeps the scoreboard ticking over. He quickly

got over that rare missed hat trick against Australia and was back

on the money against Argentina last week. Farrell seems to thrive

on the big occasions, and they don’t come any bigger than this.

3. Remember that, in the words of that tired

footballing cliché, rugby is a game of two halves. England

played the perfect 80 minutes in the build-up to this weekend’s

Test – it’s just a shame they did so in two bursts of 40 minutes on

two different weekends (the second half against Australia; first

half against Argentina). They’ll need to piece these two halves

together to get near the All Blacks.

4. The chariot to swing again. A cold, clear

day is forecast tomorrow and there’s no better way for Twickenham,

collectively, to keep warm than singing its heart out (even when

then the rugby is less than soaring). Head coach Stuart Lancaster

has already paid tribute to the effect the crowd had on last year’s

result and in the face of the Haka, it’s our duty to make our own

war cry throughout the game.

5. The Sunday morning headlines to refer to Twickenham

as the impenetrable “House of Lancaster”. The All Blacks

might be a fearsome name, but let’s face it: New Zealand’s silver

fern leaf is no match for the Lancaster Red Rose.

England vs All Blacks kicks off at 2.30pm and is live on Sky

Sports 1.

Mark Russell

Mark Russell is GQ’s Managing Editor and has been with the magazine for five years. He also writes about sport and politics and has contributed to Glamour, Brides and Executive Golf. On GQ “duty” he once sat up until 5 o’clock in the morning singing “Wichita Lineman” with Huey Lewis. He didn’t ask Huey where the News were nowadays.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/24937402

Five things we need to see at Twickenham today