England takes 9-win streak into All Blacks clash and Ireland hosts wobbling Wallabies

LONDON AP The boos rained down from the Twickenham terraces and George Ford took the brunt of it England had just lost to New Zealand - a year ago Ford had two chances in the dying moments to win the event and his penalty hit the post and a dropped goal flew wide Coach Steve Borthwick also came under fire for his poor replacement strategy sending on Ford rusty from five weeks off and yanking Marcus Smith who was in the form of his life and goalkicked all five of his shots Borthwick and Ford are still hitched together as England hosts the All Blacks on Saturday looking to cap a year of redemption Ford made way for the novice Fin Smith in the Six Nations and while Fin Smith went to Australia mid-year with the British and Irish Lions never-been-a-Lion Ford co-captained a depleted England to an impressive series conquest in Argentina and played his th test Borthwick has coached England to nine consecutive wins its longest streak in eight years and earned a reputation for bold selections by building a group in which he can stack the bench with six Lions nicknamed the pom squad a pun on South Africa s bomb squad Borthwick s appreciation of Ford runs to predicting he could be a future England coach He s a phenomenal participant and numerous years from now he s going to be a brilliant coach Borthwick noted His character and understanding of the match means I wouldn t be in any way surprised if he was England head coach at a few point A winning confidence powerful bench breakdown detail pinpoint high kicks and close-in defense have England believing it can top the All Blacks at home for the first time since But the All Blacks are also confident History matters and how you ve done it coach Scott Robertson noted You look at what other teams have done before and how we can tap into that Australia is on program for its first European tour without a win in years as it faces Ireland after losses to England and Italy Legacy came up for second-year coach Joe Schmidt and he s ruing the drop in results since August while trying to restock the Wallabies before passing them to Les Kiss next year You want to leave things set up and that was really my commitment to Les and to Rugby Australia that I try to leave it so it s ready to go Schmidt declared Elsewhere South Africa is in Italy France hosts Fiji and the Wales-Japan outcome in Cardiff will have a bearing on their Rugby World Cup draw next month Wales is ranked th and Japan th and the loser will draw two big teams in a pool instead of one reducing the chance of making the playoffs Scotland takes on Argentina on Sunday Group talk England after beating Fiji - has restored bulk of the squad that handled Australia - two weeks ago The injured Ollie Chessum and Tommy Freeman have been replaced by Alex Coles and Ollie Lawrence New Zealand dropped flanker Wallace Sititi to the bench and recalled the taller Simon Parker as a starter Billy Proctor was at center after Leicester Fainga anuku switched to the wing for the concussed Caleb Clarke Sam Prendergast has Ireland s No jersey for a change and regular wing Mack Hansen makes his first test start at fullback after injuries ruled out Hugo Keenan and Jamie Osborne The Wallabies have been freshened by inside backs James O Connor and Len Ikitau Max Jorgensen at fullback and Allan Alaalatoa to the front row South Africa s changes were planned before the squad beat France last weekend and there isn t a hooker in the reserves No Marco van Staden will cover No Johan Grobbelaar Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada called the move very intelligent management with certain menace Italy has been strengthened by players who did not tour South Africa in July when the tests were lost - and - They include stand-in captain Juan Ignacio Brex Ange Capuozzo Monty Ioane Paolo Garbisi Tommaso Allan Martin Page-Relo Simone Ferrari and Federico Ruzza Louis Rees-Zammit makes his first start for Wales following his NFL tryout The winger briefly shone off the bench in the Argentina loss Leicester No Olly Cracknell has his first test start in place of injured captain Jac Morgan France recalled Gregory Alldritt and made him captain in place of the dropped Gael Fickou while flanker Charles Ollivon is at lock for the injured Thibeau Flament Having spoken with his club coach it makes sense France coach Fabien Galthie noted Out of action England winger Tommy Freeman hamstring and Ireland fullback Jamie Osborne shoulder have been ruled out of the rest of the autumn series Wales suffered a huge blow when its captain and best participant Jac Morgan dislocated his left shoulder in the act of scoring a try against Argentina last weekend He faces surgery and doubt he ll be ready for the start of the Six Nations in February Also missing for the rest of the month is South Africa lock Lood de Jager after his red card against France earned a four-game sanction De Jager paid for a no-arms tackle to the head of Thomas Ramos Off the field Welsh rugby CEO Abi Tierney began a phased return this week following cancer restoration Tierney stepped down in mid-August But she stayed close to the WRU leadership amid plans to transform the failing professional contest including cutting one of the four regional sides Abi s return brings strength and continuity at a time of change WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood declared Tierney was appointed as the WRU s first female CEO in August AP rugby https apnews com hub rugby Source