This is great news for Anthony Tuitavake and Jerome Kaino.  Tuitavake in particular as in the cold of Wellington last weekend all he did was suffer from hypothermia and chase the ball around a few times.  Certainly did not do much to excite his fans, or his detractors for that matter.  He will relish the fact that there will be a dry track at Eden Park this weekend, and he will be able to show the world how good he can be.  Kaino too will want to show more of his ball running skills.  He was tidy off the back of the scrum, but New Zealand fans want spectacular - Zinzan Brooke, Buck Shelfod, Rodney So'oialo - not steady!!  So two quality players who were largely anonomous in the wet with a welcome second chance.

John Afoa's knee injury brings in 57 test veteran Greg Somerville back to the starting lineup.  Somerville was rested last weekend after his crusade with the Super 14 champions, and perhaps would have been starting this week at any rate.  His pairing with Tialata on the loosehead side the best duo we can field at the moment with the Myth out injured.  Their personal battles with Sheridan and Stevens, the Ppmmy bookends should be worth watching closely - for old fatties anyway.  However, I think that the battle of the scrum could be won in the second row, with the power from Thorn and Williams being too much for the Borthwick and Palmer combination.  That is, if you can believe our Pommy members on the forum!!  Mears also not rated that highly as a scrumaging hooker - and he is a bit of a dwarf too, 1.76 metres and 100 kilos - not in the heavyweights of world hookers!

The All Blacks loose forwards have about a million more caps than their English counterparts, who are three young rookies with 18 tests (105 for the All Black trio) between them.  They are rated as pretty quick around the park though, so this will be a good test for them, and for McCaw, So'oilao and Kaino, who are no slouches around the field themselves, all having donned a seven shirt at NPC and Super level over the years!  The edge in this battle though will be won for them by the fatties, and at this stage, it looks like the Kiwi fatties are 'fatter'.

The backlines look more evenly matched, but again, the All Blacks look to have much more experience.  Both sides have young tyro halfbacks, experienced first fives, and one outside back with a ton of caps.  Muliaina for the All Blacks with his 56 tests, and Tindall for the Poms with 54.  Though while pretty evenly matched cap wise, I think skill wise, the All Blacks back division will romp home - so long as the Neanderthals up front do the business on their Pom counterparts.

S'funny, this team, while not having any of the starting front row from last seasons match that never happened against the Frogs, there are still 103 caps between them.  As pointed out on the forum, they are not all starting caps, it means that they have been there and done that on the mental preparation side of things.  Physically they are all up to it, that is not in question.  The top two inches is where it is at in test matches, and that experience of the prep is vital.  One of the good things to come from the rotation of the last few seasons perhaps...

I picked an All Black win by 13+ last week, and they squeaked in by 10 in the wet (I reckon they would have romped home by 20+ in the dry).  This week, I think it'll be the 13+ points in the dry, maybe even a 40-10 type blowout...

All Blacks: 
Mils Muliaina, Anthony Tuitavake, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Dan Carter, Andy Ellis, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw, Rodney So'oialo, Ali Williams, Brad Thorn, Greg Somerville, Andrew Hore, Neemia Tialata.  Reserves:  Kevin Mealamu, John Schwalger, Anthony Boric, Sione Lauaki, Jimmy Cowan, Stephen Donald, Leon MacDonald.

England:
15 Mike Brown, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Olly Barkley; 11 David Strettle, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Luke Narraway, 7 Tom Rees, 6 James Haskell, 5 Steve Borthwick (c), 4 Tom Palmer, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan. Reserves: David Paice, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jamie Noon, 22 Mathew Tait.