Mallett reluctant to praise England

Respected rugby pundit Nick Mallett says England can’t be considered alongside the All Blacks until they have played them.

England beat Italy 36-15 in their Six Nations clash yesterday to record their 17th consecutive test win and go within one the All Blacks’ world record of 18 tier one wins in a row.

England play Scotland in a fortnight with a chance to match New Zealand.

But Mallett, who oversaw South Africa’s run of 17 wins in 1997-98, believes England should put their celebrations on hold.

‘‘The one talking point is that they will not have not faced the All Blacks for 24 months. It’s pretty unusual that the best team in the world doesn’t face the second best team in the world for such a long period of time,’’ Mallett told the Daily Mail.

‘‘It’s also one of the reasons England have gone on a run of this nature because if you play home and away against the All Blacks the chances of beating them twice is very low.

‘‘Eddie will know this side cannot be considered the best team in the world until they have faced and beaten New Zealand.’’

The two teams last met in November 2014 with the All Blacks winning 24-21 at Twickenham in London.

The All Blacks are on a fivematch winning streak against England who haven’t won since 2012 in a one-off result that ended another impressive run of nine wins by New Zealand.

England and the All Blacks aren’t set to clash until next year, a year out from the World Cup in Japan.

But Mallett believes Eddie Jones has made rapid gains with the current England squad since taking over in the wake of the 2015 World Cup disaster.

He felt Jones has managed to replicate some of the standards that set the All Blacks apart.

‘‘Eddie Jones is in a very, very strong position. The best thing about New Zealand rugby over the past four years has been the internal competition for places to keep the standard of the team up.

‘‘I think England has that now. Eddie is able to tell his players the threat is not coming from the opposition it is coming from guy who is knocking on the door,’’ Mallett said.