All Blacks ‘more fractured than ever’ as Dan Biggar senses ‘huge opportunity’ for England

All Blacks in a huddle alongside former Wales star Dan Biggar.

Wales legend Dan Biggar has talked up England’s chances of securing a positive result in New Zealand next month.

Steve Borthwick’s men head down under following Saturday’s Test against Japan for their two-Test series against the All Blacks in July.

They appear to be building nicely after a positive end to the Six Nations, but their chances are undoubtedly helped by their opponents’ current situation as they head into a new era.

The All Blacks have lost several key players since their defeat in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final with the likes of Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith and Richie Mo’unga moving on to pastures new.

That makes them vulnerable according to Biggar, who believes that England have a real chance to make history against New Zealand.

Continuity factor

“Before, any team playing in New Zealand basically ended up getting an absolute walloping nine times out of 10 didn’t they? But I looked at the squad and just thought there’s a lot of players there I’m not that familiar with,” he told The Rugby Pod.

“The teams that I played against, you almost didn’t have to wait for the team announcement because you knew it was going to be (in the backline) Aaron Smith, Dan Carter, Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Julian Savea, Ben Smith and whoever else they wanted to pick.

“You knew in the pack it was going to be (Keven) Mealamu, Retallick, Whitelock. (Richie) McCaw, Kieran Read. There is probably a little more on us in terms of knowing and seeing the (Super Rugby) games a little bit more, I admit that, but I look at the squads and I think there’s a great opportunity for England, especially in Test one.

“New Zealand don’t tend to start that well. They wouldn’t have played together since the World Cup and come in having not had a huge amount of preparation time together.”

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Biggar, who played for four years in England with Northampton Saints, also believes that Borthwick could benefit from his former club’s recent Premiership triumph.

“You look at how many Saints players are in the England squad at the minute,” he added. “If you want continuity and want to keep players who are full of confidence to put that white shirt on and grow a little bit more, I think there’s a huge opportunity for England to get a scalp.”

Jim Hamilton’s view

Biggar was on the podcast alongside former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton, who agreed with the Welshman’s assessment of the All Blacks.

However, Hamilton did admit that his opinion is perhaps hindered by his lack of knowledge of the Super Rugby Pacific sides this year.

“I’ll be honest, where this season’s been, I haven’t seen a huge amount of their Super teams apart from the Crusaders, who are struggling,” he said.

“A lot of their players are playing in Japan now so, whatever their fans want to say, they are more fractured than ever going into this series.”

Hamilton also added the caveat that new head coach Scott Robertson, who took the Crusaders to seven Super Rugby titles in as many seasons, is highly regarded and that the All Blacks were not far from becoming world champions in 2023.

“With Scott Robertson, I’m a massive fan of him,” he added.

“Some people forget that this All Blacks team made the final of the World Cup and weren’t far away from winning that either.”

Pressure is on

The last time the All Blacks hosted a home series against a northern hemisphere team, they succumbed 2-1 to Ireland despite winning the first Test.

Hamilton therefore insists that Robertson’s men will be under pressure not to repeat that result when England visit next month.

“This is the All Blacks, this is the most iconic team in the world. They’re at home, the last time they were at home in a series, they lost against Ireland, so there is a lot of pressure on them going into this,” he said.

“It’s a really intriguing Test series down there, one of the best places to go and play in the world, and it is hard to call.

“It could be a whitewash against England where the All Blacks cement their dominance on the world of rugby again, and they’re going to let people know under Scott Robertson this four-year build-up they keep talking about is going to happen.

“But when you look at their team and the profile of their team, it looks completely different to anything I have seen, even in my generation.”