New Zealand 24 England 10: McNamara refuses to be downbeat

The tourists never fully recovered from a sluggish start and eventually went down 24-10 to the Kiwis at the Westpac Stadium to render next Sunday's clash with holders Australia in Melbourne a do-or-die battle.

"It's a competition with three games in so there is not much room for mistakes and we just need to win next week," said McNamara.

"We knew all along it was going to be a tough competition. We've made it a little bit tougher for ourselves but we're certainly not disheartened whatsoever.

"We'll get to Melbourne tomorrow, have another great week's training and go take on Australia next week."

The Kiwis dominated the first half and tries from Lance Hohaia, Junior Sa'u and Shaun Kenny-Dowall, plus three goals from Benji Marshall, put them 18-0 ahead.

Quickfire tries from James Roby and Gareth Widdop enabled England to cut the gap to eight points and they would have set up a grandstand finish had Kevin Brown not had a try disallowed.

Video referee Bill Harrigan decided Brown had pushed Kiwis prop Greg Eastwood before touching down Sam Tomkins' kick and the home side immediately went to the other end of the field and secured victory with a fourth try through Marshall.

For full report and reaction, read Sports Monday, free with Monday's Yorkshire Post newspaper.