International Rugby: Can England stop Julian Savea?   21 Jun 2014

Emma Stoney

All Blacks strike weapon Julian Savea will be hoping his try-scoring run against England continues on Saturday as his team go in search of a series whitewash.
The 23-year-old has scored five tries in three games against Stuart Lancaster's side – a quarter of his 20 tries from 21 Test matches.
His most recent was last weekend's effort in the 28-27 win in Dunedin which gave the All Blacks an unassailable 2-0 series lead.
Savea's blistering pace, good step and size make him a difficult man to stop as the English have found out. In his first Test at Twickenham in 2012 he scored twice in a losing effort and he repeated the feat last year at the same venue when New Zealand exacted their revenge with a 30-22 win.
The only other team Savea has been as prolific against is Argentina where he has five tries from four Tests against the Pumas.
The big winger's five-pointer last weekend came in a dazzling 20-minute spell which also saw Ben Smith and Ma'a Nonu cross the whitewash to take the game away from the English.
Savea missed the first Test of the series in Auckland with a knee injury and faced Manu Tuilagi on the wing last weekend.
Lancaster has shelved that experiment for now and restored Tuilagi to his rightful midfield spot for Saturday's clash at Waikato Stadium which has left Chris Ashton with the job of trying to corral the New Zealand No.11.
"He just offers a different threat on the wing," Ashton said. "He's a big bloke and he can move and do everything that a modern rugby player can to the absolute best.
"Once they get going – as we saw in the 20 minutes in Dunedin – they are pretty lethal with it.
"Trying to keep him under wraps is pretty difficult with the other threats that they have. You've just got to do your best with him."

Ashton himself is no slouch when it comes to try-scoring either. He only got a few minutes off the bench at Forsyth Barr Stadium but still managed to dot down.
It is that ability to put himself in the right place at the right time that Lancaster wants to see more of from Ashton who lost his Test place for this year's Six Nations after a slump in form and confidence.
His form for Saracens in the second half of the season has prompted the recall.
"I've just enjoyed it again. You sometimes lose that a little bit when you try too hard," Ashton said of his turnaround. "Sometimes you forget that and that's the main reason why I'm here.
"Confidence is a funny thing sometimes. When things aren't going your way it is hard," the 27-year-old added.
When Ashton was dropped, Lancaster suggested to him that sometimes it was better "being the hunter instead of being the hunted".
That could ring equally true for England against New Zealand in Hamilton as they are desperate not to end their year on the wrong end of a series "blackwash".
"Three-nil we'll all be pretty upset about," Ashton said. "Because we've pushed them so close a couple of time we'd like to get a win out of this.
"We all know it's not been done (in New Zealand) since 2003 and that year turned out to be an unbelievable year for that team."

Source: Sportal

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