All Blacks' focus now on Marseille

OPINION: All roads have led to Marseille since the day the All Blacks left New Zealand.

So when the final whistle blew at Twickenham yesterday the minds of the coaches and players drifted across the English Channel.

It has been labelled a "selection" tour by the coaches and high in their thoughts will be whether young wing Zac Guildford has done enough to force his way into the test team at the expense of Cory Jane.

It will be the most intriguing call of the week. Jane has been the form wing of the season, a player who ticks every box in the All Blacks' skill-set wish list for the modern game. He is brilliant under the high ball, sound on defence, creative with ball in hand and has speed that would make a dancer jealous.

His problem, though, may be that he is a fullback first and a wing second.

Guildford is emerging as the most exciting New Zealand wing since Doug Howlett, a pure runner with size and a nose for the line.

There was further evidence of his rise at Twickenham, where he strolled to the front of the haka and continued his confident approach into the match.

There is something about Guildford's play. His powerful surge out of the 22 off the inside shoulder of Ma'a Nonu required extreme acceleration to exploit as he was running the same angle as the defence.

Any designs Jane had on Muliaina's No15 jersey were extinguished in emphatic fashion against England: the senior custodian was brilliant.

Sitiveni Sivivatu remains the most potent back of the season and is going nowhere on the other wing.

The form of the outside backs has created a "welcome headache", as All Blacks backs coach Steve Hansen said after the match.

The only other close selection call will be between Adam Thomson and Jerome Kaino on the blind side of the scrum.

Thomson was good over the ball against England, but Kaino still has the appeal of being able to intimidate physically, something that Jonah Lomu has proved time and again France do not like.

It is not by coincidence that Ma'a Nonu has scored more test tries against the tri-colours than any other nation.

Brawn may be called on for the battle of Marseille.

It will be like Christmas for big lock Brad Thorn, who continues to amaze with his defensive work-rate.

Big tighthead Neemia Tialata is sure to come back to stiffen the scrum, which wobbled a couple of times against England despite another strong match from young Owen Franks.

If the England match proved to the All Blacks one thing, it was that even the world's most physical teams will not be able to bully their way through the black wall. Their latest win was built on yet another top-drawer defensive effort.

England big men such as Simon Shaw and Steve Borthwick, and even giant wing Matt Banahan, did their best to smash their way through. They may as well have run into the outside of Twickenham's south stand.

The All Blacks' defensive system is built on cutting down the opposition first receiver's time and space. That done, the rest of the line swarms forward like an advancing shadow.

The system seems nearly infallible even when a clean break is made, with the sliding defence in the backs equally as impressive, midfielders Nonu and Conrad Smith diligently tracking the ball carrier from the inside.

It brought the All Blacks their eighth successive win against England and kept their try line in tact on their northern tours since 2006. The exception in Europe, of course, was the World Cup quarterfinal in Cardiff in 2007, against France.

- © Fairfax NZ News