England 22 New Zealand 30: England have laid platform to take on the world

Owen Farrell’s face said it all. The young fly-half who epitomises more than anyone the never-say-die attitude of Stuart Lancaster’s England wore a look of complete dejection.
England's Billy Twelvetrees is tackled by New Zealand's Richie McCawEngland's Billy Twelvetrees is tackled by New Zealand's Richie McCaw
England's Billy Twelvetrees is tackled by New Zealand's Richie McCaw

He and his England team-mates thought they had conjured a second lightning strike on planet rugby inside 12 months.

With a performance full of heart, character and a large dose of forward grunt, England nearly defied the All Blacks’ vengeance mission by inflicting a second defeat in a year on the game’s standard bearers.

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But for all their determination, all their development, they came up agonisingly short.

That magical December afternoon last year, when they shocked the world champions in blistering style, remains New Zealand’s only defeat in over two years.

This All Black vintage is up there with the best their two islands have produced.

But make no mistake, they left Twickenham on Saturday mightily relieved that an unbeaten year is within their grasp with a 13th and final victory over Ireland next Sunday.

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“I know it was a positive performance but it’s tough to take at the minute,” said Farrell.

“I thought the effort of the lads was unbelievable. The fight they showed and the commitment was everything you could ask for.

“We will be proud of today and what happened but we want to win these games.

“New Zealand have been together a long time and played a lot of rugby together. We’ve had three weeks’ build-up to this. But in the three weeks we have come so far. We feel like a much better team.

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“We believe in ourselves 100 per cent. We’re a good, good team and as we play together more and get to know each other better, we’ll keep adding detail.

“We showed that the commitment and belief are there and the willingness to fight for one another is definitely there and that is the most important foundation. We just have to make sure that we keep on pushing upwards now.

“That’s what we’ve started this autumn and hopefully it will carry on. It all builds up to the World Cup – that’s the goal.”

Farrell’s autumn series has been one of progression, while all over the pitch, England are developing partnerships and units that bristle with purpose and promise.

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Nowhere is this more evident than in the second-row where Joe Launchbury, England’s try scorer, and Courtney Lawes grow in stature with every game.

The front-row, decimated as it was with knee injuries to Alex Corbisiero and Mako Vunipola, scrummaged itself into the ground, while Tom Wood in the back-row and Billy Vunipola hungrily thundered their bodies into black shirts.

Chris Robshaw, the captain, damaged his eye so badly that he played much of the second half with only one eye open.

The man of the series is full-back Mike Brown. Assured under the high ball, his best work was done defensively on Saturday, and was best summed up in the 64th minute, when he could be found stopping what seemed a certain try from Charles Piutaiu with a tap tackle, before racing over to the other flank to get his body in the way of the rampaging Julian Savea, who only scored because the momentum of his falling body took him over. All Brown needs now is to have greater impact in the opposition 22.

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Contrastingly, there are plenty of areas of improvement that Lancaster must ponder between now and the end of January, when England reconvene at their now-traditional Leeds camp to prepare for the Six Nations, and their first assignment against France in Paris on February 1.

The most pressing is the midfield, where Billy Twelvetrees grew as the series unfolded, from the public scapegoat in the opening win against Australia to a man singled out for praise on Saturday.

But his partnership with Joel Tomkins has not worked because rugby league convert Tomkins has looked out of his depth.

Lancaster also has to address the Chris Ashton conundrum. The winger is a player who can provide the X-factor Lancaster identified as the ingredient his side most require moving forward.

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But Ashton adds that to the mix so infrequently, he has effectively become a luxury England can ill-afford. A kick into no-man’s land that ended a promising attack summed up another ineffectual performance.

England also need to be switched on for 80 minutes not just 40, or when they are stung into action.

They found themselves 17-3 down inside 18 minutes on Saturday to a team that looked hell bent on proving emphatically that they are the best team in sport, let alone rugby.

The extra something Lancaster wants was shown by Kieran Read within the first two minutes, with a sumptuous pass from behind his back that took three England players out of the game and presented Savea with the simplest of try-scoring chances.

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England were then punished for being too open by prop Owen Franks, who broke through on halfway to spark a move eventually finished by Read in the corner.

Dan Carter, playing his 100th game, converted both and kicked a penalty, and the game looked up already. But powered by their forwards and roared on by the chords of Swing Low Sweet Chariot cascading off the steep banks of Twickenham, England drove forward.

They got their rewards when Read failed to pick up from a messy five-metre scrum and Launchbury dropped on the ball.

Farrell converted and kicked four penalties before the hour as England, driven by forward power, moved 22-20 ahead.

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But just as quickly as England had shifted the momentum, so the All Blacks won it back when a fluffed lineout and the hosts’ failure to get out of their own territory resulted in a second try for Savea – despite Brown’s best efforts – after Ma’a Nonu’s superb offload.

The speed with which the game was won provided a lesson in ruthlessness and resolve that England must heed.

The Six Nations is the next challenge as Lancaster’s boys grow into men. They also play New Zealand four times next year. On the evidence of this encounter, it is hard not to imagine them also meeting in the World Cup final.

England: Brown, Ashton, Tomkins (Goode 77), Twelvetrees, Foden, Farrell (Flood 68) Dickson (B Youngs 65); Marler (Mullen 77), Hartley (T Youngs 51), Cole (Wilson 77), Launchbury (Parling 47), Lawes, Wood, Robshaw, Vunipola (Morgan 58).

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New Zealand: Dagg, Piutau (Crotty 72), B Smith, Nonu, Savea, Carter (Cruden 26), A Smith (Kerr-Barlow); Woodcock (Crockett 40), Mealamu (Coles 60), Franks (Faumuina 43), Retallick (Romano 65), Whitelock, Messam (Luatua 65), McCaw, Read.

Referee: C Joubert (South Africa).