Lawes ready for ‘ultimate’ challenge against the All Blacks

The Saints lock is in contention for a start against the All Blacks in the second Test on Saturday.

England pushed the Kiwis close in last weekend’s meeting at Auckland, losing out to a late Conrad Smith try.

And Stuart Lancaster’s men will now be boosted by the return of their Saints and Saracens players, who, apart from Lee Dickson, were given last weekend off.

Lawes, who put in a huge display in Saints’ Premiership final win against Sarries, is one of them and he can’t wait for the Dunedin showdown.

“It will be good and I am looking forward to it,” he said.

“We got a rest week last week, and it was truly needed!

“But it will be great to go out there and, hopefully if I am picked, get a couple of Tests under my belt and it will be good.

“It is the ultimate for a rugby team, to go to New Zealand and take on New Zealand, the top-ranked country in the world, but I think we have to go there and prove a point.”