Funnily enough it will be when England beat France this weekend too.

The Kiwi forwards have the potential to smash Leeds to bits, particularly with it being effectively an exhibition game and nothing to gain from putting bodies on the line. If I were Kearney I'd much prefer to work on planned moves and organisation (especially general kicking) than simply watch forwards crashing over. If they do just focus on their strengths that will help England a lot.

FYI Leeds have only ever beaten NZ once, with the last two tour games being fairly heavy defeats.

The only thing about the debacle of a union game worth remembering was how Wigan scored 2 x 100m+ tries in the one game. I would bet the house that hasn't since occurred at Twickenham in union at any decent level in the 20 years since.

Garcia is the best, Jean. All of my posts are positive about rugby league. How does that even relate to a union troll identified by Durham early on?

Regarding the match itself my views are:-

1. As a long time Leeds supporter, I would love to see Leeds win.
2. The result for me though isn't that important. The best thing is to see something of old tours reinstated with games between national sides and strong clubs. Rugby league is missing the quality of occasions like say Wigan v Australia from 1986 or 1990 as two quick examples. Leeds v Australia prior to Wembley 1990 also springs to mind with the result really opening up (educated) Australian eyes about what could happen in the First Test. This was great theatre and publicity for the game prior to a major Test match. Australia has lost this too with games like these disappearing without Tours. Lions tour and Kangaroo tour each 4 years should be immediately inserted into the schedule at international level.

I can see it being fairly brutal, especially early on. It will be interesting to see whether the ref will want to be remembered as the one who sent off 3 Leeds legends in their farewell match and a handful of Kiwi test forwards.

I think the only thing which might keep the NZ scoreline down is the new halfback pairing. I imagine they'll be using this game to try a few things out and might be a bit rusty as a result.
Put Foran and Johnson into that side and it's easy to see why they are #1 in the world.

No coverage of the game in oz sadly. Is it being shown online later anywhere?

Surely it's on Sky Sports NZ?

Great game so far. Leeds should probably be ahead. Silverwood doing his best to become the centre of attention.

The same kind of reffing we always see when a British team plays one from down under.

Cracking match, and the Leeds youngsters have been a credit to the English game.

Only one half-back on the pitch, and that's Danny McGuire (and I've never been his biggest fan).

England will certainly have to work on their defense around the ruck, NZ have been terrific there.

Haven't they! Also, the extra ground they make after contact.