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.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was