KEY POINTS:
The All Blacks' overseas rugby exodus has begun to bite, leaving coach Graham Henry to defend his return to rotation while justifying the heavy workload for other players who will face England in Christchurch on Saturday.
Faced with an English backline that leaked badly in last weekend's first
test drubbing at Auckland, Henry took the opportunity yesterday to name two rookies for the second encounter - centre Richard Kahui and winger Rudi Wulf.
However, he stuck with nearly the same faces to combat England's forward strength. The only change is a first test start for flanker Adam Thomson.
It is a no-win situation for Henry, who feels the need to increase his depth following the departure to offshore clubs of several leading players.
The first victims of rotation this year are winger Anthony Tuitavake, centre Conrad Smith and No 8 Jerome Kaino despite encouraging form. They won't even be on the AMI Stadium reserve bench.
"We just wanted to make sure they've had the experience of playing at this level," Henry said of his newcomers.
"See how they handle it, get accustomed to it going forward."
Yet the same player exodus has left Henry with depth issues in the forwards and the coach is not yet prepared to venture far beyond those who have performed strongly in the season-opening defeat of Ireland and last weekend's 37-20 dispatching of England in Auckland.
Ten players will have started the first three tests, contradicting Henry's long-held mantra that players who start a third major game in consecutive weeks struggle to perform at a physical peak. He has used that reasoning in the past to justify rotation.
Henry expressed some concern that players such as flanker Richie McCaw and locks Ali Williams and Brad Thorn - all members of the Super 14 champion Crusaders - were turning out for another major game.
"Richie's leadership is obviously critical to the side, he's getting better and stronger as a skipper. That's important to the team," Henry said, before explaining that reserve lock Anthony Boric remained a work in progress after debuting off the bench last weekend.
"We're trying to bring in Boric as a substitution, give him experience at locking scrums. He hasn't had a lot of experience locking at the level below.
"It's an ease-in process and hopefully he'll get a lot of game time at the weekend."
It will be the 18th consecutive game this season for Williams and Crusaders halfback Andy Ellis, with their only break coming in a Super 14 bye weekend.
While both teams have made just one change each to their forward packs, it will be a clash of remodelled backlines on Saturday.
England have overhauled their personnel and mindset, adopting a defensive approach in a bad to stem what was a rampant New Zealand backline for periods at Eden Park.
Defence coach Mike Ford, who said he was "embarrassed" by the Auckland display, was confident players such as new first five-eighth Toby Flood and second five-eighth Jamie Noon could keep the likes of in-form All Blacks No 12 Ma'a Nonu in check.
"We've probably got one of the best defenders that England have got, in Jamie Noon, who will give us the added belief that we're going to tidy that area up," Ford said.
"On the night we made individual errors. If they'd kept to the system, they realise it would have been a lot more difficult for New Zealand to break us down."
Conceding four tries last weekend was par for the course for England, who have leaked 41 tries in their last 10 tests against the All Blacks while scoring just 14.
There is a patchwork appearance to their backline, with regular Newcastle club midfielders Flood and Mathew Tait lining up in unfamiliar roles at first five-eighth and fullback.
Acting head coach Rob Andrew said this weekend was an important stage for those hoping to win places in a 32-man elite player squad named on July 1.
Andrew believed the elite squad would set his country onto a more consistent selection pathway.
"Over the last three to four years we've all seen and accepted that quite frankly too many players have played for England over that period of time.
"That is something we have to move away from."
All Blacks
Leon MacDonald, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Richard Kahui, Ma'a Nonu, Rudi Wulf, Daniel Carter, Andy Ellis, Rodney So'oialo, Richie McCaw (captain), Adam Thomson, Ali Williams, Brad Thorn, Greg Somerville, Andrew Hore, Neemia Tialata.
Reserves: Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock, Anthony Boric, Sione Lauaki, Jimmy Cowan, Stephen Donald, Mils Muliaina.
England
Mathew Tait, Topsy Ojo, Mike Tindall, Jamie Noon, Tom Varndell, Toby Flood, Danny Care, Luke Narraway, Tom Rees, James Haskell, Steve Borthwick (captain), Tom Palmer, Matt Stevens, Lee Mears, Tim Payne.
Reserves: David Paice, Jason Hobson, Ben Kay, Joe Worsley, Pete Richards, Olly Barkley, David Strettle.
- NZPA