The world champion All Blacks have come in for some high praise from UK rugby critic Stephen Jones.

Staunch All Blacks critic Stephen Jones has likened the current team to cricket legend Don Bradman, labelling them the best rugby team of all time and an outfit to challenge the greats from rival codes.

"It was not just his test batting average of 99.94 that made Don Bradman such an amazing cricketer, it was his lead over the next best. Nobody has ever come within 25 runs of his career average," noted Jones in his latest piece in the Sunday Times.

"So, too, the All Blacks. New Zealand have played 100 games since the start of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, winning 90 and losing just seven for a winning average of 90 per cent. In the same era, England are second with 57 wins from 82 and 70 per cent before yesterday's game against the Springboks.

Te Kāea The All Blacks completed the first leg of their end of year tour with an entertaining 69-31 win over Japan in Tokyo. Eight new caps made their debuts in the second-string side.

"Are the Kiwis the greatest? Yes. They have taken two world titles during that run and taken a technical lead by ripping out so many of the precepts of play."

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Jones admitted it was hard to compare sporting teams from different codes and eras but felt the All Blacks stacked up against the greatest cricketing teams of the West Indies and Australia and even the 1970 Brazil football team who epitomised "the beautiful game".

"Not even they saw off opponents with such alacrity and consistency as New Zealand under Graham Henry and Steve Hansen," he wrote.

"You would never call rugby the beautiful game, especially in its current industrial-diamond state. But New Zealand can be as beautiful as any, taking the ball into fewer crunches.

"They have torn up the idea that only quick ball with the opposition on the back foot is attacking ball. Instead, they have run the ball thrillingly from deep, wide, short; they have run fast ball and slow ball, attacked after their own passes have been dropped."

Jones tempered his praise a little when he wrote that the All Blacks superiority was built around "collective greatness" as much as individual brilliance and felt many of the All Blacks from this remarkable era might struggle to make a World XV.

"It is impossible to detract from Richie McCaw's consistency at the breakdown but if you had thrown him into a struggling team he may have retired almost unknown," suggested Jones in his Sunday Times article.

Looking ahead to this weekend's highly anticipated clash between England and the All Blacks at Twickenham, he felt it was vital for Eddie Jones' team to try to play their own game rather than imitate New Zealand's.

"For England to win on Saturday would reverse history and would be a stunning boost to Jones, the team and the sporting nation. It would in some ways turn prospects for the World Cup on their head. But, to return to the cricketing analogy, the magnificent All Blacks are defending their status with the broadest of bats and with flashing blades," he concluded.