The Autumn Internationals get underway in earnest this coming weekend with the headline clash seeing England take on New Zealand at Twickenham.
Autumn Internationals
England v New Zealand
Saturday 2 November – 15:10
Twickenham
The two sides met during the summer series, playing out two hotly contested fixtures with the Kiwis edging both games. Will Scott Robertson’s men be able to go three from three against Steve Borthwick’s men in 2024 or will the English inflict a spot of revenge over their foes?
To Win Match
England 31/20 | Draw 20/1 | New Zealand 11/20 *forecast betting
Scott Roberston faces arguably the sternest test of his fledgling career at the helm of the All Blacks with his side taking on the English at Rugby HQ. Not because of threat England pose, but because of the the poor run of results in the Rugby Championship. A home defeat against Argentina, back-to-back defeats against the Springboks saw them finish third on the standings.
Robertson’s charges have won seven of the ten fixtures they have played with all their defeats coming in the Rugby Championship. It must be noted that those losses were rather narrow ones as they went down to South Africa by four and six points and Argentina by eight points.
They managed to bounce back from a disappointing Rugby Championship campaign by securing a solid win over Japan this past weekend as they beat the Brave Blossoms 19-64 with Wallace Sititi and Billy Proctor impressing. While is almost a shoo-in for a start against the English, it will be interesting to see whether Scott Robertson – who has been pretty conservative with his selections so far – gives Proctor a start over Rieko Ioane, who has struggled for this term.
The English have produced a mixed-bag themselves in 2024 winning four of their seven fixtures. While there were a couple of impressive wins in this run including a victory over Ireland, they also narrowly beat Italy and scraped past a Welsh that finds itself at a pretty low ebb.
England will fancy their chances here however, as they did give the ABs a real run in the two Tests in New Zealand – with a few missed penalties costing them the first Test and a suspect call from a lineout costing them a chance to draw the second. Unlike their opponents, England are yet to play an international after the mid-year Tests but they have most of their players who acquitted themselves well in New Zealand available and raring to go.
Verdict: England 31/20
I fancy the hosts here. They were unlucky not to bag a win in New Zealand and I reckon they’ll finally get the job done on home soil.
