Bruised Robshaw lays down title challenge

The All Blacks avenged last autumn’s Twickenham humiliation with a 30-22 victory in a captivating climax to the QBE Internationals, but they were made to look far from invulnerable.

A side that uses the mantra “We are the most dominant team in the history of the world” for motivation required a moment of genius from Ma’a Nonu, finished by Julian Savea, to preserve their perfect record this year.

It was only England’s second defeat in 11 matches, but Robshaw insists any loss – even to the world champions in a breathless Test – is unacceptable.

“We’re pretty close to where we want to be, but we’re not quite there,” the captain said.

“If we’d beaten New Zealand we’d have been pretty happy, but we’re at that level where you can perform well and get close, but it’s about winning.

“We are improving game by game, week by week and tournament by tournament and we must make sure we continue that.We’ve now finished second in the Six Nations for the last two years and the only way for us to improve is to win it. That’s the aim.

“We had a pretty good campaign last season but unfortunately fell short at the final hurdle. The good teams don’t fall short, they take their opportunities.

“The All Blacks didn’t lose a game in the Rugby Championship. They are the benchmark, but we want to be better.”

It was a monumental effort from England’s pack and no one carried the impact more visibly than Robshaw, whose left eye was disfigured by a gigantic bruise that sat like a tennis ball on the socket.

“I picked it up quite early. I clashed heads, it was nothing malicious. I just went in for a tackle and clashed heads, it’s as simple as that,” the Harlequins openside said.

“It’s swollen up a bit, but I could see without any problems during the game. It’s all right now.

“A couple of days and it will settle down.”

England hooker Dylan Hartley is to be reassessed next week after suffering bruising to a lung.