Spotlight on clash of the strongmen

LONDON - All of a sudden the murky world of a front row prop is a big talking point before a test, but All Blacks strongman Carl Hayman isn't sure he likes it that way.

On his 26th birthday, Hayman was gifted a meeting with the Queen and a slightly less sought-after situation - an audience with the British media keen to talk up his crucial duel with England loosehead Andy Sheridan.

After Sheridan's human wrecking-ball impression on the Wallabies' scrum last weekend, notably props Al Baxter and Matt Dunning, England hope they can make inroads on one of New Zealand's big strengths.

Asked his impressions of Sheridan's performance, Hayman was typically low key. "I saw bits and pieces of it. He played pretty well."

This is also about as much as you'll get from Sheridan, quietly-spoken but a bench-presser extraordinaire quickly joining Hayman on the pedestal of the most feared props in the world.

The pair, both converted locks, clunked heads in June when the Lions played NZ Maori in Hamilton, a torrid encounter and one Hayman termed "an interesting tussle".

They spoke after the third test in Auckland but by all accounts it was a brief conversation, each apparently finding the other "pretty quiet".

"It was all go for a while [in Hamilton] but it'll be a completely different ball game on Saturday - a test match with a lot more at stake," Hayman said.

So do you back yourself to get the better of Sheridan?

"I suppose we'll find that out on Saturday. I'm not going there to make up the numbers."

- NZPA