England better equipped to face NZ than in summer, says Sinfield

LONDON : England have learned the lessons from two narrow defeats in New Zealand in July and are better placed to turn around their dire home record against the All Blacks when they meet at Twickenham on Saturday, says assistant coach Kevin Sinfield.

England really should have won the first test in Dunedin before slipping to a 16-15 defeat and were ahead in the final quarter of the second at Eden Park, but again lost their attacking threat and went down 24-17.

"We were disappointed not to get a win over in New Zealand. We’ve made some strides and we improved a lot throughout the summer, albeit we want to win," Sinfield told reporters on Thursday.

"There was a deep dive and a deep review. We’ve tweaked some bits, we’ve learned some things and we’ll try and take as much of that into the game on Saturday.

"They’re a very, very good team, 2012 is the last time we beat them (at home) and what’s crazy is that only two of our last 15 games (against all opponents) have been at home, it’s great to get back home," he added.

That 2012 success and the 2019 World Cup semi-final victory in Japan are England's only wins in their last 20 meetings, with the last Twickenham game in 2022 drawn after a late England comeback.

Since the summer series New Zealand have hardened their own game plan under new coach Scott Robertson, though they had mixed results in the Rugby Championship, losing at home to Argentina and twice to South Africa before beating Australia twice.

EASIER TASK

Sinfield suggested that preparing to face the All Blacks now, rather than at the dawn of the Robertson era, is easier.

"They hadn’t played at all, we were first up so we weren’t quite sure what was coming then," he said.

"I’d like to think we’ve got a better idea now, we’ve