Stevens strikes the right note with bid to join the specials

Matt Stevens, the X Factor singing star at the sharp end of England's rejuvenated team, sent the All Blacks a few words of warning yesterday, saying: 'We're on the brink of something special.'

The Bath prop, who warmed up for the tour on a West End stage by singing Amazing Grace before an audience of 1,200, believes New Zealand could be left to face the music after the reality show at Eden Park here on Saturday night.

'This is a special time for us,' he said. 'A real challenge and a real opportunity.

England prop Matt Stevens

'It is realistic for England to at least get a draw out of the series. Having said that, these are all just words and talk is cheap. But there is definitely that optimism in the team and a feeling that we have what it takes.'

If the two-match series starting on Saturday proves Stevens to be something of a prophet in addition to his other talents, then it would not be before time. The result can only get better this time given that when England were last here, four years ago, they lost the Tests by an aggregate margin of 72-15.

The All Blacks have swept all before them at home since capitulating to England's World Cup-winning team in Wellington in August 2003.

Stevens has waited almost that long to unseat Phil Vickery as the No 1 tighthead and the former captain's absence due to a dodgy knee gives his challenger a free run to prove his time has come.

Seven years younger at 25, Stevens is too respectful to make any predictions about a rival whom he replaced for part of the World Cup.

'Phil Vickery is a massive player, possibly one of the best tightheads ever,' he said. 'I've been trying to push him out the team for the last four years.

'They are big shoes to fill but I have always felt I should start, which is how a player has got to feel. Phil is going to come back very strongly next season. He wants to be back in the England set-up and go on the Lions tour.'

Once a junior Springbok who converted to the Red Rose faith through an English mother, Stevens personifies the thrusting young guns who have yet to translate their Premiership dynamism into the international arena.

The average age of the new pack, 26, is six years younger than the one which went into the World Cup Final last autumn.

This one is exclusively in its 20s, something England have not done when picking their strongest XV since Australia at Twickenham in 1997 for Sir Clive Woodward's first match in charge. England need their younger forwards to make a statement here on Saturday and in Christchurch seven days later.

Stevens said: 'New Zealand are in some sort of transition but there is still a huge amount of physicality to their game. There are a lot of battles to be won all over the field. That's the challenge but we all think we can do it.'

Nobody will dare say so for public consumption, but the All Blacks no longer present the aura of supremacy which did for England on their first visit as World Cup