England To Host All Blacks At Twickenham In Nov. '18

After "much wrangle and rancour," the date for England rugby’s showdown with New Zealand has "finally been set," with Eddie Jones’ team to face the world champion at Twickenham on Nov. 10 next year, according to Alex Lowe of the LONDON TIMES. England will open its four-match campaign against South Africa, "tackle the All Blacks and then play Japan for the first time at Twickenham before rounding off the series against Australia." It is about "as punishing a schedule as England could have put together" less than a year out from the World Cup and Jones "wants his team to emerge from it as the world’s No. 1 team." He said, "We want to win that series 4-0. It will give us a really good indicator of where we are as a squad." England has not played the All Blacks since '14, when it lost four times to New Zealand. The Rugby Football Union "deliberately avoided arranging a fixture for this year in case it had a negative impact" on England's world ranking and therefore its World Cup seeding (LONDON TIMES, 9/13).