A thunderous match that had no losers
The first thing that needs to be said is that this was an absorbing Test match between two teams which on their current rate of progress will be serious contenders for the 2027 World Cup. Amid all the panic about the need for entertainment to stimulate interest, this was a true contest with every point hard earned which turned on a moment of brilliance.
For all England’s disappointment at losing by a narrow margin for the second week in a row having again looked opportunity in the face and blinked, just think back to last August when most of the Twickenham crowd were too stunned to boo after England lost to Fiji to continue a depressing run of results and performances.
Who saw, amid the wreckage of that day, that by the following summer England’s engine would not only be running smoothly but have considerably more horsepower? That they would compete in a two-Test series with the All Blacks in New Zealand on virtually even terms, looking to rise to their level rather than trying to drag them down.
New Zealand’s head coach Scott Robertson said after the first Test that he wanted the game in general to be sped up, the implication being that England had slowed it down. In the second half yesterday it was the All Blacks stretching the boundaries of the laws as they desperately tried to staunch the flow of England’s attacks when they were four points down and in danger of a first defeat at Eden Park for 30 years.
A difference, as in the previous week, was on then bench. New Zealand brought on Beauden Barrett early to take the tactical strain off Damian McKenzie and slot in at outside-half, mixing up his game and taking no time to make decisions.
It was Barrett who played the major role in restoring New Zealand’s lead with 20 minutes to go when he glided into the midfield, accelerating as soon as he saw Maro Itoje in front of him to draw the defence and give Mark Tele’a outside him a free run to the line for his second try.
And that was the essential difference between the sides, New Zealand’s ability to make ground by putting the ball through hands. For all the progress made by England, and given where they were coming from it has to be incremental, their midfield is more of a defensive bulwark than an attacking threat.
England’s two tries came from Marcus Smith cross-kicks, the first for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso relying on velocity rather than height to allow the wing to step inside the covering McKenzie, and the second, for the taller and bulkier Tommy Freeman, was given more hang time to allow him to beat Tele’a in the air and force his way over the line.
They were both well executed, models of how to defuse an onrushing defensive line, but a next step for England is to become more effective when putting the ball through hands, which may mean putting Freeman in the centre to add pace on the outside, an option that saw its value enhanced when Ollie Sleightholme replaced Feyi-Waboso with 12 minutes to go and made two telling breaks.
Sleightholme was the one England replacement in the two Tests to make an impact. In contrast, New Zealand’s alternate tighthead prop Fletcher Newell boosted their scrum and scrum-half Cortez Retima, on debut, meant Finlay Christie’s frenzy was traded for composure
New Zealand’s captain Scott Barrett said after the match that Test matches challenged the character of a player and England were not lacking there, from Marcus Smith, who recovered from the goal-kicking glitches in Dunedin the previous week, to have a 100 per cent record from the tee and pose a threat defences are not used to from an England outside-half, to prop Fin Baxter, who was making his first Test start.
It was a surprise that Smith was again taken off in the final quarter when England were chasing the game. The bench largely looked as if it were loaded to defend a lead and scrum-half Ben Spencer remained on it as Alex Mitchell went the distance but, given the players who were missing, that should change in the autumn.
England should have been ahead in the final 15 minutes of both matches. If missed penalties cost them in Dunedin, yesterday it was prime attacking positions that earned no reward both because of fierce tackling and the lack of ice needed in the intense heat of battle. The game was there to be won when Smith’s penalty made it 17-13 to England seven minutes into the second half. They conceded two attacking positions by losing their lineout, the first after Sevu Reece kicked the ball directly out of play after it had been passed back into the home 22, and they paid when New Zealand fashioned a try from deep. Still England had chances but, again, indiscipline cost them. They led at half-time despite being awarded only one penalty, but as the match wore on and the effects of a campaign that started a year ago began to tell, they lacked the legs and clear heads to see it out, just like New Zealand at Twickenham in November 2022.
Maro Itoje was one of three surviving England starters from that day – New Zealand had nine – and he was on auto-pilot for much of the second half having played more in the last 11 months than any other England player.
His weariness saw him give away three penalties in the final quarter and when New Zealand pointed to the short time they had been together, England were at the end of a long road and away from home. It will be different when they meet the All Blacks at Twickenham in the autumn.
England may have lost but in one sense there were no losers. It was a thunderous match with the lineout a real contest and the scrum a means of applying pressure. Nothing was conceded at the breakdown and both teams set out to win.
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England came up just short, as they had the previous week and against France in the Six Nations and South Africa in the World Cup semi-final, but better to be close, so close, than nowhere near it as they were not so very long ago.
