New Zealand……………….. 16pts
Tries: Reece 16, Savea 25
Penalties: McKenzie 55, 66
England ………………………… 15pts
Tries: Itoje 21, Feyi-Waboso 48
Conversion: Smith 22
Penalty: Smith 40+4
England may have rattled and rolled New Zealand at times in Dunedin yesterday, but it was still a case of so near, yet so far, for Steve Borthwick’s new-model side in a pulsating opening Test in which both teams scored two tries and the lead changed hands five times.
Ultimately, however, it was New Zealand, who took the honours by a single point thanks to a Damian McKenzie penalty with 15 minutes left on the clock – and it could have been by a wider margin if the All Black fly-half had not allowed the shot-clock to run out as he lined up another penalty in front of the posts in the penultimate minute.
By the same token, if his England counterpart Marcus Smith had had his best kicking boots on, rather than leaving eight points out on the pitch, McKenzie’s last two efforts might have been academic – and a 21-year wait for a third win on New Zealand soil over.
The portents were in England’s favour going into this first Test, because, for once, they arrived in New Zealand well prepared and primed, with a successful warm-up game against Japan and three weeks of training – as opposed to the previous pattern of a fragmented, jet-lagged squad arriving in dribs and drabs in the aftermath of a Premiership final.
They are also two years into Borthwick’s tenure with six Tests under their belts since the 2023 World Cup. By contrast, New Zealand had a new coach in Scott Robertson, who faced his first Test in charge with a team which had not played a Test since losing the World Cup final to South Africa by a point eight months ago, and had only 10 days of preparation.
Yet, despite England’s much-improved blitz defence putting a python-like squeeze on new skipper Scott Barrett’s side, they had just enough to edge out the tourists. There was precious little in it, with both sides competing ferociously for every scrap of possession, and while England were predictably under pressure at the scrum, and came second in the breakdown battle, they had their fair share of gains.
Jamie George’s crew counter-punched strongly by making a mess of New Zealand’s lineout, and their press defence shaped by assistant coach Felix Jones forced the host nation into multiple errors, and denied them attacking space.
England also had the best player on the pitch in Maro Itoje, who was back to his world-class best by not only scoring England’s first try, but consistently disrupting New Zealand’s lineout and breaking their attacking flow with crucial turn-overs.
New Zealand’s attack was rusty, but the athletic prowess of winger Mark Telea made him as hard to hold as mercury, and his footwork, speed, and deceptive power made him a perpetual threat.
It was notable that one of the rare occasions when England managed to get to grips with Telea was when Itoje pilfered the ball off him in the opening minutes. English nerves were settled further when New Zealand’s formidable tight-head, Tyrel Lomax, was penalised for collapsing a scrum in front of his own posts.
However, Smith was unable to turn it into points, hooking the penalty wide with five minutes on the clock. After that it was the All Blacks who made the stronger early statements, first by shunting the England scrum back in disarray, and then, with 15 minutes on the clock, rounding off a punishing multiphase attack when Sevu Reece scored the opening try of the match.
The raid started with a counter-attack featuring Telea, Patrick Tuipulotu, and new full-back Stephen Perofeta, before another dent by lock Tuipulotu saw the England defence narrow, with Tommy Freeman sucked in-field. When the ball was recycled to McKenzie his precision cross-kick found Reece on the touchline, and while Freeman tracked back he could not stop the All Black poacher from scoring in the corner.
In the corner: Sevu Reece touches down for the All Blacks
Although McKenzie could not convert, at 5-0 down England suffered a further blow when an injury forced experienced loosehead Joe Marler to be replaced by 22-year-old debutant Fin Baxter.
They regrouped rapidly, and made a crucial territorial gain after an Ollie Lawrence grubber saw Immanuel Feyi-Waboso bundle McKenzie into touch in the New Zealand 22.
The English pack then produced a clockwork peel from George Martin’s line-out catch, with Ben Earl setting the maul before passing to Chandler Cunningham-South. When the big blindside rammed his way to within a metre of the line, Itoje was there first to pick up and plunge over.
Smith’s conversion gave England a 7-5 lead midway through the first-half, but another retreating England scrum, followed by a Reece 50:22 gave New Zealand another foothold they struck again in ruthless fashion.
They launched an attack off a scrum on the edge of the England 22, and when the ball was switched back to the right flank Perofeta made his mark by stepping out of Earl’s tackle, and when his pass found Ar-die Savea the No.8 romped down the tramline to score.
With McKenzie unable to add the extras New Zealand led 10-7, and the war of attrition that followed was only broken on the cusp of half-time when a jarring Cunningham-South tackle on Scott Barrett saw the New Zealand captain use his legs to prevent Lawrence from winning a turnover.
Smith kicked the resulting penalty to level the score at 10-10, with everything to play for after the interval – although England had yet to break the New Zealand line in attack.
Despite Smith missing another straightforward penalty early in the second half, it did not take long for England to rectify this attacking shortfall – and they did it in some style with a 14-phase attack.
It started and finished with Feyi-Waboso, who fielded a deep kick from McKenzie before linking with Henry Slade and Alex Mitchell. Smith then provided the orchestration with a double-pump pass which sent the impressive Cunningham-South on a charge into the New Zealand 22, and from there he provided the link as Martin, Cunningham-South again, and Sam Underhill kept the move alive, before Freeman’s burst for the line was stopped just short.
From there drives by Itoje, Underhill, and Earl sucked in the defence before Smith’s long pass to the wing put Feyi-Waboso over untouched, and although the fly-half was unable to convert England led 15-10. However, with both teams emptying their benches and McKenzie narrowing the gap to 15-13 with a 53rd minute penalty, the arm-wrestle intensified both before and after the All Black fly-half gave his side the lead early in the final quarter.
England were never short of grit in this encounter, and nothing typified this more than George Furbank’s late high-ball heroics, and Baxter battling to repel the New Zealand scrum.
In the end, it was not quite enough – and it is not going to get any easier. Although they get a second chance in Auckland on Saturday, they face the daunting task of having to beat an All Black side which will almost certainly improve, and which has not been beaten at Eden Park for 30 years.
