All Blacks v England: How Jason Ryan faced the ‘underdog’ question from English media – Opinion

THE FACTS

Gregor Paul in London

The English media and most bookmakers are forming a view that their national team, unbeaten in nine tests, are building towards genuine heavyweight status with the potential to be a mighty handful by the 2027 World Cup.

Most bookies in the UK have England slight favourites to beat New Zealand this weekend, and the scribes who turned up to quiz forwards coach Jason Ryan at the All Blacks’ training base in the South-Western suburb town of Teddington, arrived seemingly confident of a win at Twickenham for the first time since 2012.

One reporter had various, convoluted attempts to draw Ryan into some kind of affirmative response to confirm his world view that England are the better team.

He seemed to be asking Ryan to agree that the All Blacks, having quite regularly been to the UK in the past 20 years as firm favourites in most fixtures, have arrived this time to encounter an England team that has a justifiably heightened confidence about how things might play out.

Ryan played dumb, citing his confusion about what or even if he had been asked a question, because he knew what the reporter was actually trying to ask, but not quite able to frame it with the directness required.

He was really saying: “You chaps don’t look that great – not in the same league as some of your predecessors – while our boys have won nine on the hoof and reckon they can knock you over.

“You can agree or disagree, but I need a response from you to slot a few quotes into my pre-determined narrative that the All Blacks are not the team of old and England have every reason to think they can win this week.”

Ryan, who seems to have a good instinct for knowing when he is being rage-baited – goaded into providing an easy story and cheap headline – said that he felt the All Blacks have always carried enormous respect for all their opponents and that he welcomed facing a confident England team, because his team is in a similar state and wants the enormity of the challenge of trying to win at Twickenham.

This coming game, he suggested, had no different context to any other between these two fierce rivals and long-standing heavyweights.

The funny thing is, both views have large elements of truth to them and it’s easy to see why the English media have sensed an underlying vulnerability within the All Blacks and built their confidence in Steve Borthwick’s team now that they have not lost since Ireland beat them in February.

The point about the gap having closed between New Zealand and the four Home Unions is also irrefutable.

The All Blacks only lost two November tests between 2004 and 2018, and quite often – most years in that period – they would comprehensively overwhelm Scotland, Ireland and Wales and quite often England, too.

But in the past four years, the All Blacks have lost three November tests and drawn one, and having seen how in the last two weeks both Ireland and more definitively Scotland had New Zealand scrambling, there has been little about the men in black to provoke the usual sense of fear and trepidation among Northern Hemisphere rugby followers.

On top of that, England are building familiarity with a gameplan that is founded on set-piece strength and the power of the pack, but which has considerably more elements to it.

They have strength in depth in most positions, access to a handy bench that can make a serious impact and they are growing in confidence because they are winning.

But equally, Ryan’s confidence in the All Blacks’ readiness is by no means misplaced. The All Blacks have won four on the trot now – nine out of 11 this year – and while they had wobbly moments in their first two Grand Slam encounters, they found a way to win.

Just as England have reason to feel confident, so too do the All Blacks as they have the set-piece heft and efficiency to withstand whatever England throw at them. At times in Chicago and Edinburgh, there was a flow and cohesion to their attack that suggested there is some affinity building with their gameplan.

And this is what makes this game so pivotal. Both teams are tracking mostly how they want to – growing their understanding and ability to use the ball while building confidence through winning, and they both know that this game will be season-defining for them.

If England are the real deal the way their media thinks they are, then they have to beat the All Blacks for that storyline to retain its credibility.

And for the All Blacks, a win in London virtually assures a Grand Slam and with it, a reason to see the volatility in Edinburgh and Chicago, as well as the record loss in Wellington during the Rugby Championship, as the inevitable turbulence endured by all young teams and not as red flags signalling serious possible dysfunction.

Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.