Storms have lashed the north of England and are forecast for the south and west this weekend, with heavy rain expected in London around kickoff time (3.30am NZT).
It will place more emphasis on an already intriguing forward battle, with England quietly confident of matching the tourists with returning veterans Simon Shaw and Joe Worsley, and their best player of recent weeks, openside flanker Lewis Moody.
His opposite number, All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, led his near full-strength side onto a damp Twickenham for their final shakedown today and said rain held no concerns.
"If it's wet it changes things a little bit, but in terms of how we want to play I don't think it'll affect things too much. You'll have to be more careful catching the ball and not throw the 50-50s you might throw with a dry ball," he said.
"You still need to get some good ball to operate with and play at the right end of the field so it's no different."
McCaw confirmed bench hooker Corey Flynn (hamstring twinge) was ruled out and newly-arrived Aled de Malmanche would wear No 16. Flynn was hopeful of being fit to play France next weekend.
The skipper, unhappy with his side's failures to put away Wales and Italy in frustrating recent tests, said it was important to stamp their mark on Twickenham and sound a warning for the French who await in Marseille.
"These two weeks are important. We feel we haven't quite had the performance we're after.
"This is a pretty important week to start that. We haven't looked too much further ahead to next week but that's going to be a hell of a battle. If we can get a good performance here it'll help next week, definitely."
The All Blacks have won seven in a row against England, and their last defeat at Twickenham was 28-31 in 2002. In three subsequent tests against England here, the All Blacks have won by an average of 32-15.
In the wet, the tactical kicking duel between respective pivots Dan Carter -- one short of Andrew Mehrtens' All Blacks test pointscoring record of 967 -- and Jonny Wilkinson will take on more significance.
The pair haven't clashed since 2005 when Carter produced a masterclass in the second test against the Lions in Wellington, before 2003 World Cup-winner Wilkinson battled a spate of injuries.
The British media's focus has been on Carter's brilliance and England's ineptness all week as the fallout from their bumbling 16-9 win over Argentina dragged on.
Coach Martin Johnson issued some fighting talk, insisting he was the man to lift England as he beefed up his pack and chose imposing second five-eighth Ayoola Erinle to mark Ma'a Nonu is his run-on test debut.
Said McCaw: "They'll be a pretty passionate bunch, I'm sure, after the last couple of weeks. They'll be physical and aim to put us under pressure and not give us ball to operate with, which is exactly what we'll be trying to do to them."
Mils Muliaina will play his 81st test, matching Justin Marshall as the most-capped All Blacks back, behind only Sean Fitzpatrick's 92 on the all-time New Zealand list.
McCaw, who sits two tests behind Muliaina in the race to be the first All Black to 100, hailed his fullback's contribution.
"He's been outstanding. He started in 2003 so there's been very few games he's missed during that time. His experience is a big factor in how the All Blacks go."
