England lock horns with All Blacks in top weekend action

The English don't have a great record on the road against the All Blacks and coach Clive Woodward concedes that their No. 1 ranking won't count for much unless they win in New Zealand.

The Six Nations champions get the chance today at Wellington -- the New Zealand capital -- when Woodward's powerful 15 face a comparatively young and inexperienced All Blacks squad.

England will be leading a northern hemisphere charge in weekend rugby internationals against southern unions.

World champion Australia, coming off a 45-16 win over Ireland last week, hosts Wales in Sydney, while Tonga is at home to Ireland, South Africa takes a 1-0 lead into the second test against Scotland at Johannesburg and Argentina plays France in Buenos Aires.

"This is a colossal game for England and it is also a colossal game for New Zealand," said Woodward. "If we win on Saturday night, the team can move on with confidence to bigger things at the end of the year."

England is ranked No. 1 due to its impressive winning stretch at Twickenham and its Six Nations Grand Slam run, but Woodward sees the true test of strength against New Zealand.

"The boys wanted to come and beat New Zealand in their own back garden," said Woodward. "I can't praise [captain] Martin Johnson enough for his rallying call to come here and do it."

New Zealand is shaping as a favorite for the World Cup starting Oct. 10 in Australia due to the form of its provinces in the Super 12 competition.

All Blacks coach John Mitchell has so much depth at his disposal that he could afford to overlook the likes of Christian Cullen for New Zealand's first test of the season and give rookies Joe Rokocoko and Ma'a Nonu their first caps.

The New Zealanders have an 18-1-5 record against England since 1905 and have lost only once to the English at home, in 1973.

Wales is in disarray after a winless Six Nations campaign and its players missed their scheduled departure for the tour over a pay dispute with the union. New Zealand-born coach Steve Hansen has kept the Welsh squad in virtual isolation.

Welsh rugby great Jonathan Davies said the tour should have been canceled.

"I can't see any purpose to this trip, which brings a team low on confidence and playing at the end of their domestic season to unforgiving matches in Australia and New Zealand," the former Wales skipper wrote in a column for Sydney's Daily Telegraph yesterday.

"I hate to say it ... but if [Wales] lose by 25 to 30 points to the Wallabies, they will have done well. And if they don't play well it could be a lot more."

Already without Brian O'Driscoll and Keith Wood, Ireland's injury toll increased when flyhalf David Humphreys injured his arm against Australia and was sidelined for the remainder of the tour.

Prop Reg Corrigan replaced Humphreys as skipper and will lead a lineup containing 11 changes for the first head-to-head since Ireland's 32-9 win at the 1987 World Cup.