KEY POINTS:
England scrum weapon Andrew Sheridan's characteristic modesty is evident when he's quizzed about the All Blacks' new front row for the first rugby test in Auckland on Saturday night.
There's no lack of respect when talking about an opposition pack missing the likes of key tighthead prop Carl Hayman, whom he would have packed down against if Hayman hadn't moved to Newcastle.
Sheridan will instead be marking 57-test Greg Somerville, brought in for John Afoa, who was injured in the 21-11 win over Ireland in Wellington last weekend.
"I've never played against him, but he's very experienced and an effective scrummager," he said.
"I've been watching clips of him playing so I know it's going to be a difficult challenge."
There was also praise for loosehead Neemia Tialata in being able to switch to tighthead when Afoa went off against the Irish.
"I've always said their scrum works very effectively as an eight," Sheridan said.
"It's not so much an individual thing."
Sheridan also deflected the suggestion that the 2008 All Blacks didn't have the same intimidating character as their predecessors because of the player drain.
"They always seem to be able to bring in players of equal quality," he said.
"Quite often they have Probables-Possibles matches and it's the Possibles who sometimes win so it shows the strength in depth."
Sheridan's quiet spoken nature belies his imposing 1.93m, 122kg frame and his reputation as a damaging scrummager.
The qualified bricklayer is credited with dismantling Australia's scrum in last year's World Cup quarterfinal, a thriller England won 12-10 in Marseille.
England went on to the final, going down 15-6 to South Africa.
Remarkably, Sheridan, 28, is the only survivor from that Paris match in the England starting 15 that will run on at Eden Park.
The loosehead prop admitted it wasn't something he was aware of until caretaker manager Rob Andrew had mentioned it.
"I suppose a lot of has happened since then, a lot of games," he said.
"That's the way it is and the guys who come through have all had good seasons and deserve to be here."
Sheridan, who has 24 caps, is on his third tour of New Zealand, his previous trips being with then world champions England in 2004 and the British and Irish Lions in 2005.
He sat out the tests both times, his two England caps against the All Blacks being in defeats at Twickenham in 2005 and 2006.
"I haven't got one yet so it would be nice," he said of a win over New Zealand.
"It's a difficult place to come and play and we know we need to be at the top of our game if we're going to stand a chance of winning."
While last year's World Cup still casts a pall over New Zealand rugby, Sheridan has got over England's near-miss at the tournament.
Part of the reason was England already had a Six Nations campaign to occur their minds.
But even in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup, defeat in the final had been tempered by the way they had engineered a huge change in fortunes after the Springboks had whitewashed them 36-0 in pool play.
"I don't think we could have done any more," Sheridan said.
"I think if we had been red hot favourites, the disappointment would have more."
- NZPA
