Clueless Kiwi Retallick fails to name single England player ahead of Test

England have been gifted their team talk for Saturday’s first Test against New Zealand after blundering All Black Brodie Retallick failed to correctly name a member of Stuart Lancaster’s squad.

Asked if he knew any of the tourists ahead of the series opener at Eden Park, Retallick responded “a couple”. When pressed for a name, the second row said “Michael Lawes”.

Retallick appeared to be referring to Courtney Lawes, who is en route to New Zealand having helped Northampton win the Aviva Premiership final last weekend and consequently is unavailable for the first Test. It confirms the long-held suspicion that there is little awareness of European rugby among the southern hemisphere giants.

While the host nation is confident they will be celebrating a 15th successive All Blacks victory on Saturday, their prospects will have suffered after Kieran Read was ruled out of the game with concussion.

In a worrying development for the International Rugby Board player of the year, he reported a recurrence of the neurological symptoms that have troubled him for over a month.

Read — viewed as Richie McCaw’s successor as All Blacks captain — made his comeback for the Crusaders on Saturday only to wake up on Monday morning “not feeling the best”, according to New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen.

A doubt now hangs over the influential number eight’s involvement in the entire series.

Holland replaces injured McCarthy in Emerging squad

Mike McCarthy had been ruled out of the Emerging Ireland squad for the IRB Nations Cup due to a calf injury. McCarthy will be replaced in the squad by Munster’s Billy Holland (pictured, left), with Dominic Ryan named as captain of the side.

Ulster pair, Richard Lutton and Stuart McCloskey, have been called up to replace Rodney Ah You and Noel Reid, who were drafted into Joe Schmidt’s senior squad.

Emerging Ireland’s first game of the tournament takes place on Friday, June 13, against Russia.