Brendan Venter: How England will try to beat the All Blacks

OPINION: England will be buoyed by the fact that they are coming off consecutive victories against South Africa ahead of the first meeting against New Zealand since 2014 at Twickenham on Saturday.

South Africa possess a very strong side when it comes to individual players at the moment and the expectation is that they have to start winning on a consistent basis like the All Blacks. The loss to England was painful for South Africa to stomach because they are better than the English and should have won the game but didn't. The upshot is that is sets up a mouth-watering test match in London.

The much-anticipated showdown between first and fourth on the World Rugby rankings pits two teams with opposite game philosophies. The battle between the first five-eighths, Beauden Barrett and Owen Farrell, is a microcosm of the match.

They are completely different players. Farrell's value to the team is in his competitiveness, winning attitude and game management skills, whereas Barrett's worth lies in his individual brilliance and natural physical ability. The All Black pivot is super-quick with a brilliant skill-set, while Farrell is a No.10 who plays for territory and manages his team.

In terms of the bigger picture, it's a fascinating duel because England beat South Africa against the run of play. The game plan which England employed against South Africa at Twickenham was extremely conservative.

It was built on Eddie Jones' original success with England and comprised of dominating physically, box-kicking, contesting in the air, driving the lineout, defending well and keeping the opposition pinned in a corner. In the first half, those tactics didn't work at all and the Springboks won the territorial battle. However, in the second half, England's approach worked very well. The million dollar question is, will the same plan be good enough to beat the skilful All Blacks?

Jones has been quite outspoken this week and has said that he has looked at what the British and Irish Lions did against New Zealand in 2017 and what South Africa did in Wellington and Pretoria. Jones would be confident that he knows how to beat the All Blacks.

However, I'm not so sure that this England team has it in them to beat the men in black. The reason behind it is that there are very few ball-carriers in the current England team who give them go-forward. Without the Vunipola brothers – Billy and Mako – in the pack there are just not enough players to offer them go-forward. The outstanding point from last week's match was how few inroads England made with ball in hand.

However, on a defensive front the presence of former All Black coach John Mitchell within the England set-up is an intriguing subplot. Mitchell is a proponent of line-speed on defence and I reckon it was the main reason he was brought in. Line-speed was central to the British and Irish Lions' success against the All Blacks in the three-match test series, with Andy Farrell overseeing that strategy. Jones will feel that using a rush defence is how England will get a return against New Zealand.

England will rush unbelievably in an attempt to get to the All Blacks. What will be revealed on Saturday is whether the English are good enough to rush the All Blacks and put them under pressure, or if the visitors have the skill-set to deal with the rush. It must be noted that rush defence comes with risks. If players aren't used to a rush defence and rush the wrong play, England could actually get pumped by 40 points.

The main concept is that you need a superior skill-set to deal with a rush defence and I'm convinced that that is what the All Black coaches would have been spending their time on this week because in all of the games they have lost in recent times, they were rushed.

The English are going to try rush the All Blacks, will look to kick and chase and put the men in black under pressure. The All Blacks are going to wait for turnovers but not too many will come because I don't foresee the English keeping the ball in hand much. It's literally a contest which pits two contrasting philosophies. A super-conservative England, who showed their hand against South Africa, and an All Black team who we know boast the ability to rip teams apart owing to their superior skill-set.

Jones has been very successful with that conservative style of play in the past. He could argue that he doesn't have enough ammunition to play in a different manner at the moment, and the only way England can prove competitive is by employing the aforementioned style of play.

If the All Blacks struggle against England everyone will believe the World Cup is open, but I have a feeling the All Blacks will lay down a marker and come up with a very good performance.

*South African Brendan Venter is a 1995 Rugby World Cup winner and a former assistant coach of the Springboks.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/opinion/108473114/brendan-venter-how-england-will-try-and-beat-the-all-blacks

very good article that very correctly points to the main Achilles heel of the AB,... the rushing defense

if everything goes as expected, England will rush both halves A. Smith and BB,... each time it has happened before, as the article says, the AB have lost,... if Mitchell is good enough (and I think he's) he'll apply pressure on them,... but as Venter also says I doubt they are going to succeed,... and there's another reason for it apart the mentioned in the article,... the English midfield

Te'o and Slade are not an established pair with experience together,... and it was shown against the boks,... they were so uncoordinated that at times each one was applying a different style of defense,... Te'o sliding and Slade rushing,...

the midfield is essential when applying a rushing defense,... if it's not correctly placed and coordinated it can become the gap throug which the AB can escape the pressure,... and Ben Te'o seemed really lost,...

if England fails applying the pressure it could be a historic thump,... but this will only hide the AB's problem,... their Achilles heel will still be there,... what Hansen touted as his plan to overcome the rushing defenses is not going to work against better teams,... to use DMac as a second playmaker is not going to work

both BB and DMac struggles against rushing defenses when playing as playmakers,... they have struggled each time they have played against rushing defenses not only with the AB  but also with their respective SR franchises,... they need time and space and when the pressure limits them considerably (time & space) they tend to take bad options and lose the control of the game,... to think that playing them together is going to make the problem dissapear is quite curious,... it could work against England but I doubt very much it's going to work against Ireland

As I see it, Hansen and co. are obstinated in keeping BB as the AB nº10,... to a certain point is understanable,... experience i s a huge factor in WCs,... but they tried to overcome the rushing defenses playing him, firstly, with Jordie at FB,... failed (and Jordie himself failed),.. then with Ben Smith at FB,... failed especially against the boks but, in a way, also against the pumas,... and now they are going to prove again with DMac,... the experiment didn't work against the aussies who weren't even applying a rushing defense,... so what to expect when they'll face the best defense in the world, the Irish

untill the moment there's been only one option with which the AB have been able to avoid the pressure of the rushing defenses,... and it's called Richie Mo'unga,... he succeedded and the team changed completely when he came in against the pumas and against the boks,... against Japan he gave a masterclass of how to avoid the line speed,... yeah, it was Japan,...  but Hansen & co. refuse to give him the opportunity to prove he can also do it against the strongests teams

ABF

The AB's will beat that English team by circa 15 points.   The advanced discussions in the English papers is just pre-game propaganda and do not amount to much.   

ABF

The AB's will beat that English team by circa 15 points.   The advanced discussions in the English papers is just pre-game propaganda and do not amount to much.   

Basque 

BB will expose all the weaknesses in England that SA failed to last week.

What I hate is the boring ,negative shit rugby the poms play .Wasting time at the set pieces and generally trying to slow things to a crawl bores me shitless.

Formulae to beat the AB's

Time left on the clock in score plus ten!

England cut huge holes in our defence in the last thirty plus minutes. They hung on and the longer they were in the game, the more they grew in confidence. Once they had the lead, they were very difficult to handle. They did what we couldn't do: keep attacking play alive beyond the initial penetrator. 

As for New Zealand, this is the least balanced side for quite some time. It reminds me more of the All Black side from the 1999 and 2003 WCs. Very high end attacking teams that weren't entirely rounded. If you cut them off out wide, they generally run out of ideas. That isn't to say they can't hurt you, but they lack the tools they've had in the past to work around different situations. The Pretoria test was the first time I've seen New Zealand dominated for territory and in the air since 2009. So, these are largely unchartered waters in the Hansen era. 

Can England exploit them? I don't think so. Their centre pairing looks vulnerable. The issue of ball carriers is also an important one. The All Blacks have the pack and set pieces to take England out of the game. They had the best scrum in the RC and I can't see them being beaten at the lineouts. Their maul was another weapon. There are too many weapons available. It would take a monumental effort to beat New Zealand. The All Blacks will do what the Boks were incapable of doing, scoring tries. England looked more dangerous when the game opened up against the Boks, but that space is what New Zealand exploit best. They find their mismatches and become almost impossible to stop. It's also when Barrett is most effective. 

U nlucky offside for the Poma, serves them right for robbing us...NZ's aura dimming a bit . They are beatable again.