Now this is exciting! The past two weeks have seen Declan Kidney pick international teams for tricky away fixtures. The goal – despite Kidney's protests – was to get those finely tuned motors up and running. A slow and sure warm up before we click into gear on these, the last two laps of our test run before New Zealand.
First up was the damp squib of a game against Scotland, do we expect anything more from a trip to Edinburgh? Much more heartening was last weekend's jaunt to Bordeaux. Another loss, yes, but the performance was only a decent set-piece away from a win deep in French rugby country.
