Former All Black centre Aaron Mauger says it will be a tall order for England to overcome New Zealand at Twickenham today.

The veteran of 46 caps for his home country between 2001 and 2007 says Martin Johnson's side will have to step up a gear from the past two weeks if they are to beat the world's top-ranked team.

England have been mediocre during the first two autumn internationals with an 18-9 defeat by the Aussies being followed with a 16-9 win over Argentina.

New Zealand, meanwhile suffered little trouble from Wales in a 19-12 victory at the Millennium Stadium, before sending a reserve team over to Italy and coming back with a 20-6 win last weekend.

"It will be difficult for England and a tall order for them," said 28-year-old Mauger.

"They seem down on confidence from what I have seen so far over the past two weeks.

"The All Blacks are probably not playing as well as they want to.

"They made lots of changes last week in Italy and are playing okay in bits and pieces.

"But, if they can get a good set-piece, their back line could be dangerous this week because there is a lot of experience in there."

Mauger, who started at inside centre for Leicester Tigers in last night's Guinness Premiership clash at Gloucester, believes the England squad have plenty of quality despite the lengthy injury list they have had to put up with this autumn.

But he says there must be something missing as the sort of leaders he comes up against every week in the Guinness Premiership struggle to reproduce their league form for the national side.

"The guys in there are good players but they just haven't gelled yet for whatever reason," he said.

"They have Steve Borthwick and Jonny Wilkinson and someone like Lewis Moody is a good leader too.

"Then there are people like Paul Hodgson, who has captained London Irish. There are enough leaders out there but is the message getting through?

"Maybe it's because of their lack of confidence. But they also look like they are lacking a bit of direction out on the field.

"It will be a tough. They have to try to deny the All Blacks possession if they want to have a chance of winning."

Leicester Tigers will show England's clash against New Zealand live in the Tiger bar at Welford Road. The game kicks off at 2.30pm.