All Blacks v England preview: Tuilagi restored to England centre

Manu Tuilagi's transition to international winger has been short lived with his reinstatement at centre for England's third and final Test against New Zealand at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton tomorrow.

Tuilagi, who caused trouble for New Zealand from his preferred centre position in the first Test at Eden Park, was largely anonymous on the right wing for the second Test in Dunedin and will join his first Test centres partner Kyle Eastmond in a rejigged combination.

Eastmond did not play the second Test with Stuart Lancaster preferring his Six Nations combination of Billy Twelvetrees and Luther Burrell, who has dropped to the bench. Inside centre Twelvetrees is not in the matchday squad at all.

Freddie Burns has returned as the starting outhalf after Owen Farrell was ruled out with a knee injury, while Ben Youngs replaces the injured Danny Care to restore the first Test’s halves combination.

Record

The

All Blacks

have the opportunity to not only equal a record for successive Test victories against England in Hamilton but also to send an emphatic message to their World Cup challengers.

Steve Hansen’s side have won their last 16 internationals and stand one victory away from equalling the record amongst Tier One Nations jointly held by the 1965-’69 All Blacks and the 1997-’98 South African teams.

There was little surprise in Hansen’s selection for the game tomorrow, bringing back number eight Kieran Read and giving the exciting rookie Malakai Fekitoa a start at centre in place of the injured Conrad Smith.

Jerome Kaino has moved to the blindside of the scrum to accommodate Read’s return from concussion though the rest of the team was otherwise unchanged from that who sealed the series with a 28-27 victory in Dunedin.

The All Blacks want to build on their blistering third quarter at Dunedin, where they scored three tries, to not only achieve the series victory but to send England homeward to think again ahead of the 2015 World Cup.