Smith to test shaky England midfield
25 Nov 2008
Conrad Smith as recovered from a groin injury and will resume his partnership with centre Ma’a Nonu in the All Blacks’ match at Twickenham.
Smith has not played since the Ireland game two weeks previously but returns to displace Richard Kahui, who drops out of the 22-man squad.
A win over England this Saturday will see New Zealand completing yet another Grand Slam. They’ve already beaten Scotland, Ireland and Wales over the past three weeks.
England – 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Tim Payne.
Subs: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Tom Rees, 20 Harry Ellis, 21 Danny Cipriani, 22 Dan Hipkiss.
New Zealand – 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu; 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan; 8 Rodney So’oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino; 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn; 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Subs: 16 Hikawera Elliot, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Isaia Toeava.
10 Comments
25 Nov 2008, 22:37 pm
No.
It seems that Henry has not learnt his lesson, he is too old to remember when last he paid a visit to the loo it seems – Kahui is the MAN, Smith is a journey man.
25 Nov 2008, 23:23 pm
# RedBull (formerly RedLion): Show a game when Smith hasn’t performed , and I will show you a good pomy rugby team!!!
25 Nov 2008, 23:58 pm
# RedBull (formerly RedLion):
Both a pretty much equal.Smith is a bit more experienced so i would go with Smith over Kahui as well.Both have reps of getting injured easy so we need both to be up with the play.
26 Nov 2008, 00:03 am
Much as I believe that Kahui will be the long term future, Smith has been a key part of some great tries and defence this year and I think that Henry showing faith with players that are performing is not a bad thing. It seems that this year the 3 wise men have learned that the players need to understand their place in the overall team rather than the confusion that constant rotation seemed to have caused.
26 Nov 2008, 08:26 am
smith is pure class. i still wish we could see him and aaron mauger at 12 and 13 for the AB’s.
26 Nov 2008, 08:50 am
#5 viewer:
I would have love to see
10. Spencer
12 Carter
13 Mauger
26 Nov 2008, 10:01 am
jc
“Conrad Smith as recovered”
what do you mean .. as recovered???
did his *** recover? (you sure it was his *** that was injured?)
did he recover his ***? if so, in who’s possession was it and what was the person doing with it?
26 Nov 2008, 12:06 pm
Jean, Adi and Jaque are better than this guy.
26 Nov 2008, 17:19 pm
#8 SexyTime:
And Luke McAlister better than all of them.
And, Im sorry, but Fourie shows all the subtlety of a front-rower. He is Jamie Noon with a couple of extra kilos. He wouldnt know a step if confronted by a staircase ! Springboks suddenly look SO much more threatening with Jacobs at no13 and Pienaar at no10.
26 Nov 2008, 18:08 pm
Asha,
That is brilliant!!
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