“They were a tough two games to narrowly miss out on. We felt like the last game could have gone either way. To miss out like that is always difficult. We’ll definitely want to put a few wrongs right and really get stuck into them on our home ground.”
England have also experienced several near-misses against the All Blacks on home soil, losing 24-21 in 2014 and 16-15 in 2018, as well as drawing 25-25 in 2022. Their last victory against New Zealand at Twickenham – which will host its first men’s international as the newly renamed Allianz Stadium on Saturday – was 12 years ago when Manu Tuilagi ran riot in a 38-21 victory under Stuart Lancaster.
“Everything worked for England, their strikes that day,” Freeman, 23, said. “Manu was breaking the line a lot and hopefully we can see the same with Ollie [Lawrence] doing the same thing. We want the crowd to be rocking, they are always up for England against New Zealand. It will be exciting.”
After five days training in Girona in Spain, England have returned to their main training base at Pennyhill Park in Surrey where their focus has shifted to dealing with the threat posed by New Zealand. In the second test defeat at Eden Park, England failed to force a single turnover at a ruck and flanker Tom Curry believes that the battle of the breakdown will again be pivotal.
Curry expecting breakdown battle
“For us, the main thing is definitely around the breakdown,” Curry said. “They go hard, especially on the inside, so we have to make sure that we are on it. It is going to be a good battle, especially with [Sam] Cane being back.
“Last week was really good on focusing on ourselves with an eye on what we are getting after this week and it flowed really nicely into today’s session. You focus on getting the best out of yourself and they have to deal with that. That’s our mentality.”
Curry is hoping to play in his first home England test in two years after a succession of injuries, including hip surgery, although the 26-year-old says that this is now “the best I’ve felt moving”. Given his chequered fitness record, Borthwick’s decision to give Curry one of the 17 Enhanced Elite Player Squad contracts was a significant vote of confidence.
“Every situation is different with each player,” Curry said. “Steve emphasises this a lot, it’s not a selection criteria. For me, and I can only speak for myself, in terms of the relationship with England, RFU, obviously Sale, and how I’m able to manage myself ... physios, we’re talking more. For me and my circumstance, it’s a real positive.”
