KEY POINTS:
For the first time in many years, the All Blacks arrived to decent weather in England, but the forecasters are predicting drastic change this week.
There is not the same conviction though about the national sporting teams.
The gloom and doom merchants have been overwhelmed with targets after
the cricket side's failure in the Champions Trophy and the perceived burial of England by the All Blacks on Monday.
Optimism is in short supply. As the politicians warn about climate change and the planet being on the edge of calamity, there is similar conjecture about the fate of the England rugby side.
Shed of many frontliners and others who rose to fame at the last World Cup, England have lost their last five tests and their All Black foes have lost only four tests since Graham Henry became coach three years ago.
About the most charitable comments have been that the test will be an uneven contest.
Like any coach worth his considerable salary, Henry has tried to douse those opinions with a reminder about last year's contest at Twickenham when the All Blacks struggled to a 23-19 victory.
Losing three players to the sinbin that day did not help but Henry has to use every method to prepare his side properly for Monday. There will be a calamity if the All Blacks lose their focus.
But it is hard to escape the belief, even in England, that a beating awaits Andy Robinson's men again.
Former Lions lock and Sunday Telegraph correspondent Paul Ackford wrote of the impending "slaughter" and the frightening gulf between the sides.
All the hyperbole and swagger that used to precede tests at Fortress Twickenham has vanished.
This test was arranged to celebrate the opening of a new stand at Twickenham and to fill the NZRU coffers, but it has not been matched by any belief about an England revival.
The chariot is swinging very low.
Robinson has Brian Ashton and Jon Wells as his new coaching assistants, men with a reputation for welding attack to the rugby basics. But time, injuries and the ongoing spats between clubs' needs and those of the nation are hampering England.
The euphoria of Sir Clive Woodward's World Cup success, which coincided with his fortune to have a troupe of stars, has faded remarkably.
Robinson survived the cull in April when the RFU acted. But as sole survivor he remains the face of failure instead of the successes in 2003.
He is now associated with results that are being compared with the bad old days in the 1970s.
Monday at Twickenham will be a massive test for him, too.
The other side
The English press may be playing down their own side's chances on Monday but they are also highlighting the importance of the game to New Zealand's World Cup hopes.
* If one of England, France or Wales win and win well during the next month then that whole edifice of All Black invincibility, erected carefully over three years, will crumble to dust.
- Paul Ackford, Sunday Telegraph
* The team that have the most to lose are the All Blacks, simply because no one expects them to lose. Three or four months ago, everyone considered them unbeatable; one defeat against South Africa and suddenly they are considered slightly vulnerable, the big beast that everyone is hunting.
- Thomas Castaignede, Guardian
* If the All Blacks devastate France as they did when last they met in Paris, the world's final hope of stopping Graham Henry's team will be gone.
- Stuart Barnes, Daily Telegraph
