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All Blacks consider Six Nations winner to be big challenge

All Blacks captain Reuben Thorne believes tomorrow's test against No.1-ranked England will plunge his new-look lineup in at the "deep end" of world rugby.

"Certainly this is a tough one to start with," said Thorne, who leads a young side includes two new caps and a host of players with only a smattering of test experience.

Six Nations champion England will field a team with a cumulative total of more than 400 test caps and with an average age of 29 compared with the All Blacks' average age of 25.

"Ideally we would have liked to have had one game under our belts before we came up against England," Thorne said. ``We have been thrown in the deep end here and in some ways that is great but it is also a huge challenge.

"England have had a whole campaign together, they know each other's play so well and we have not played together yet. In that sense it's difficult but if we come through it well that would have to be a good sign."

The depth and the experience of players available to England coach Clive Woodward was emphasized Wednesday when first-choice halfback Matt Dawson was sidelined with a thigh problem.

Dawson's place in the starting 15, which was previously unchanged from that which beat Ireland 42-6 in Dublin on March 30 to secure the Six Nations Grand Slam, has been taken by Kyran Bracken, a 31-year-old with a decade of test experience.

The All Blacks continued a low-key test preparation Thursday, working on attacking combinations and defensive formations with backline containing test rookies Ma'a Nonu and Joe Rokocoko. Scrumhalf Justin Marshall, with 60 tests, is the most capped international in the lineup.
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