New Zealand prefer Barbarians over England during November Tests

The face-off between England and New Zealand will have to wait after All Blacks chose Barbarians as their preferred opponent in the upcoming November Tests.

The two teams last played during November 2014 and do not have any immediate fixtures scheduled between them as well.

However, with the resurgence of England under head coach Eddie Jones where they recently levelled New Zealand's 18-match winning streak prompted Rugby Football Union (RFU) to send an invitation to the back-to-back World Champions on a possibility of the two teams facing each other at Twickenham on 4th November.

A RFU spokesperson said: "We explored whether there was an opportunity to play New Zealand this year, but they have chosen to play the Barbarians."

The fixture between Barbarians and All Blacks will still be needing an approval from the New Zealand board.

A statement released by Barbarians confirmed that they received the approval from RFU.

"The Barbarian FC today received approval from the RFU to stage the Barbarians v New Zealand match at Twickenham on November 4, 2017.

"The Barbarians approached the RFU last month with a request to stage this fixture at Twickenham and the request has been granted, replacing a Barbarians v Australia match previously approved."

Meanwhile, Barbarians chairman John Spencer thanked RFU for their support.

"The entire Barbarians committee would like to thank the RFU for approving this fixture against New Zealand.

"For the record, and contrary to some recent media reports, the Barbarians have a strong and very collaborative relationship with the RFU, and any suggestion that the RFU has not acted correctly in any part of the discussions around staging this fixture is unfair and wrong."

Apart from their fixture against New Zealand, Barbarians will also play England and Ulster on 28th May and 1st June respectively with outgoing Scotland head coach Vern Cotter taking in charge of the team.