'Pom squad' primed to beat All Blacks - Andy Goode

The emergence of the Pom squad was the main takeaway from England’s win over Fiji and it might just be the development that finally gets them over the line against the All Blacks.

Steve Borthwick hasn’t reinvented the wheel with this but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all and the Springboks are back to back world champions for a reason and remain the dominant force in the sport.

If you can’t beat them, join them which is exactly what England have done and they’ve gone from a team that let leads slip last autumn to one that is now peaking in the final quarter.

There are subtle variations between South Africa’s bomb squad and England’s Pom squad, of course, and the Boks boast more power but out and out speed is more the point of difference for the men in white late on.

Imagine having played an hour of international rugby at the highest level with all the physical and mental exertion that entails and then seeing Henry Pollock and Henry Arundell, in particular, coming at you at full speed.

That’s what the Fijians faced on Saturday, with the added difficulty of all of Maro Itoje and Tom Curry’s experience and other qualities coming at them, and it turned the game after the hosts only had a slender 21-18 lead with around 20 minutes remaining.

Scoring 21 unanswered points in the closing stages will be an entirely different proposition against New Zealand but England lost the game against them last November in the final quarter after seeing a 22-14 lead evaporate.

It was a similar story against Australia and South Africa last autumn as Borthwick either took his starting halfbacks off or shifted Marcus Smith to full back. He has learned some lessons since then and his use of replacements has come on leaps and bounds.

Arundell will have to go some to get past Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman, who are pretty electric themselves, but it seems like he has an extra gear. There’s an air of anticipation and noise in the stadium when the ball goes near him and he’s the perfect impact sub at this stage.

His try was a bit special and was one of three in the final quarter that took England to victory, all scored by replacements, after an hour in which the home side were drawn far too much into the type of game that Fiji want.

The scrum and lineout, cornerstones of any side and Borthwick’s teams in particular, were perfect throughout and there were other encouraging signs in attack but there was a lot of unstructured play and not enough control.

There will be a lot of debate around the fly-half selection this week ahead of the game against the All Blacks but the rest of the backline should remain the same, apart from Freddie Steward returning if he’s fit, and I think Fin Smith has done enough to start.

The other interesting call is who has the No.8 jersey and Ben Earl was named player of the match against Fiji from openside but Sam Underhill has to come back into the team and I think Chandler Cunningham-South offers more size and physicality that might be needed from the start.

One of those three, Pollock, Guy Pepper or Tom Curry is going to miss out on the match day 23 altogether for the biggest game of the autumn as the strength in depth of the back row looks ridiculous, even without the absent Willis brothers.

New Zealand have blitzed both Ireland and Scotland in spells over the past couple of weeks but they’ve had issues in the second half of games in the Rugby Championship over the past two years

They scored just seven points in the final quarter of games in the 2024 edition and the fewest in the competition after the half-time oranges this year, so Borthwick will feel his Pom squad can come on and win the game if his starters can keep it tight for an hour.

In reality, England have also only played in fits and starts this autumn, that’s all that has been required thus far, but they know a full 80-minute performance with all 23 men contributing is needed to beat New Zealand for the first time since the 2019 World Cup semi-final.

They’ve only beaten the All Blacks twice in the last 22 years since 2003 but there is a confidence about this group that you can only get from stringing wins together and they’ve now won nine on the spin, the most since the record 18-game streak between 2015 and 2017.

The performance against Fiji was a long way from perfect but the building blocks are there, the Pom squad is primed and there’s enough evidence to suggest England can make it 10 wins on the bounce and record just a third win over the All Blacks in two decades this weekend.