KEY POINTS:
They are the likely lads of the English backline - likely to cause the All Blacks some bovver and likely to get into a few scrapes themselves.
They were Bath teammates and will be reunited next season at Gloucester where they are likely to cause some grief in
the English club premiership. But tomorrow the sights of Mike Tindall MBE and Olly Barkley are trained on the All Blacks at Eden Park.
In essence, Tindall has been out of commission for England since he broke his leg last year. Just when he got back on the field he damaged his liver in a freak accident against Wales and missed the rest of the latest Six Nations.
Tindall - whose gong could stand for Most Broken Effigy - is a tough unit but someone who has not been on the international track too consistently since the triumphant World Cup year of 2003.
Barkley has also been troubled by injury for a couple of years including leg problems at the last World Cup before deposed coach Brian Ashton overlooked him for the Six Nations because an allegation against him of causing actual bodily harm would have meant a prolonged court case. It was dismissed two months ago.
So the one-time Bath pair have scarcely danced the international two-step in the past few years.
Others, such as Jamie Noon, Mathew Tait, Toby Flood, Dan Hipkiss, Mike Catt and Anthony Allen, have been tried but tomorrow the former clubmates are reunited.
Tindall, whose Royal partner Zara Philips lost her Olympic equestrian hopes this week because her horse was unfit, was part of the World Cup glory run in 2003 and with 54 caps has a serious rugby pedigree.
"I hope this will be better than the last few outings for England," the midfielder said.
Tindall broke two ribs against Wales, punctured his lung and smashed his liver - "hell of a game that" - but is still going back for more. It was no time to quit - "what else would I do?"
He spent four days in intensive care and lost a great deal of blood through internal bleeding but was back playing for Gloucester six weeks later.
"I went to dive on a ball and copped a heel from flyhack in ribs. I thought I had just broken my ribs but it was bad for an hour afterwards," he recalled.
Barkley played even less in the Six Nations as his legal team sorted through his court case.
"Initially it was quite hard. I am not going to lie. It was quite hard the first couple of months it was going on because you want it to come to an end," he said. "But I just decided to stick it in a black box, let my lawyer deal with it and I focused on rugby and that worked really well for me."
Barkley could not believe the case dragged on for as long as it did. It left him frustrated and angry, out on his ear in the Six Nations in a decision he did not agree with. In some ways both Tindall and Barkley are making a new start.
"I do not see it as a development tour at all though," Barkley said. "The younger guys on tour are here on merit. They are not here because we think they could be good in two years' time. They have played the best in their position in the premiership. So we have not brought a bunch of kids away who we think could be good in five years' time."
Barkley was brought up in Cornwall where he played basketball and was offered a football trial with Arsenal. He switched, reluctantly, to play rugby because his PE teacher forbade him playing soccer unless he also played rugby.
"Over the next two years I still wanted to play football, I pretty much hated rugby, until about 15 when I found out I was not too bad," he recalled. "Football was my first love, a no-brainer really. I don't follow football at all now though I support anyone who plays against Arsenal, otherwise it becomes quite boring in the living room."
Barkley will goalkick tomorrow and is wary of the Ma'a Nonu-Conrad Smith combination he and Tindall will face.
"Smith is very tidy, made a great setup for a try last week while Nonu is a big threat on the gainline. We do plenty of study of the Super 14 and they're not new boys to us."
Tindall did not take too much out of All Blacks' work last week. He admired the physical pressure they applied at the breakdown though he thought they would play differently at Eden Park.
"They will want to play through their backs. We want to match them too," he said.
