All Blacks: Defeat a real wake-up call, says Carter

LONDON - With a loss comes greater learning, said Dan Carter on the eve of the test against England.

Twickenham will bear witness to whether those lessons have been heeded.

The All Blacks embark on the first leg of their Grand Slam tour against the Home Unions overnight. What was shaping as a stroll in the park has suddenly taken a more perilous complexion after frailties surfaced in Hong Kong.

Come-from-behind victories in the Tri-Nations served only to mask the fact their performance had begun to slip from the heights of their opening wins against the Boks and the Wallabies.

"There were some things we needed to address early in the week," Carter said of the team's preparation in London. "They were things we probably could have addressed a couple of games ago. The fact we scraped through a couple of wins means we tended not to."

England are not Australia, but they have a big pack and a quality set-piece that could make life uncomfortable for a team whose confidence must have dipped slightly after 15 tests unbeaten.

Carter's confidence has risen however, particularly around his ability to get through 80 minutes. That will provide some comfort to fans who will be understandably nervous about the prospect of a nervy Stephen Donald, who remains on the bench as cover, being asked to run the show.

Carter said the team had to take responsibility for the collapse in Hong Kong and pointed to areas in his own game he felt were deficient.

"Defensively I wasn't quite up to scratch. I could have done a bit better," he said.

New Zealand, who have not lost to England in their past eight encounters and not at Twickenham since a 28-31 reverse in 2002, include debutant Sonny Bill Williams.

Williams joins Ma'a Nonu in a potentially frightening midfield, with the ex-league man at 13 instead of second five-eighth where he made rapid progress for Canterbury in the ITM Cup.

"We wanted to pair [Williams] with an experienced midfield player," Henry said, noting that Conrad Smith had a slight hamstring concern. "Sonny may be better with a bit more space. There's a huge gap between ITM Cup and international rugby and he won't have the same space at 12 as he does at provincial level."

Henry said the goal was to get everybody in the squad aside from the rehabilitating Andrew Hore, some involvement in the first two games.

"It brings the squad together well and everyone feels they are being catered for," the All Black coach said.

"Daniel Braid will be wondering why he's not selected this week when he didn't play last week and he was in the 22. We think it's going to be a hell of a physical contest and having another big loose forward [Liam Messam] may be helpful."

Henry even had time to crack a joke, suggesting that Hosea Gear's place in the starting XV owed much to a media and public campaign.

"Hosea needed a game. He's been a hugely successful player at levels below. There's been a lot of pressure from the media and the public for him to be in the All Blacks.

"Even my mother asked me why he wasn't in the All Blacks. I go to a game, to watch the New Zealand Maori play the English, and I get 'Hosea, Hosea, Hosea' rippling through the stands. My wife said I should pick him as well so it was a foregone conclusion really."