Video - England 2 New Zealand 9: Crunch time for McNamara as he looks for England to finally seal the deal

They head to Wigan on Saturday knowing, after this disappointing loss in London, they must now defeat New Zealand in the final match of this three match sequence to clinch the Test series.

For McNamara, whose contract expires after its conclusion, it should be imperative England do win if he is to secure a new deal as there is surely no leeway for any more courageous near-misses for the national side.

Between now and the weekend they have to rediscover some attacking brio after they were too easily constrained by the Kiwis on Saturday.

Indeed, they almost seemed frightened to move the ball wide in order to try and find space when their pack, so dominant in the 26-12 first Test win at Hull, found life much tougher in the Olympic Stadium.

George Williams, the Wigan scrum-half and Super League Young player of the year, endured a difficult afternoon, his kicking game deserting him badly but fellow half-back Gareth Widdop was similarly ineffective, too.

McNamara has two other scrum-halves in his ranks, Wigan’s principle No 7 Matty Smith – Williams plays stand-off for his club – and Castleford Tigers’ Luke Gale.

Gale, 27, has yet to win a cap but was deemed Super League’s best scrum-half this year earning Dream Team selection and would bring more flair than the more experienced Smith and arguably a superior kicking game, too.

It would be a bold call for McNamara to bring Gale into his side for his debut in such a crucial game, but it would be a positive one and he should look at his opposite number Stephen Kearney if he needs any persuading.

The New Zealand coach dropped his No 7 Tui Lolohea just 48 hours before kick-off in London and gave Kodi Nikorima, the 21-year-old Brisbane Broncos player, his first start in international rugby league.

Although Nikorima began shakily, he grew into the contest, delivered some telling kicks and was at the heart of the move that delivered the only try of the game in the 43rd minute, his off-load seeing the excellent Tohu Harris show quality handling to nudge winger Shaun Kenny-Dowall over in the corner.

“It was a big decision,” Kearney admitted. “Tui had done nothing wrong. I just thought for this particular game Kodi would be a better fit and I thought he was pretty good.

“The attitude we had in defence was the big difference.

“It needed to improve after last week’s game but I thought right from the kick-off there was a difference in intensity and commitment.”

A major video refereeing call aided New Zealand, James Graham deemed not to have grounded the ball after falling on Josh Hodgson’s smart grubber in the 72nd minute even though Australian referee Gerard Sutton awarded it on the field.

Video officials Phil Bentham and James Child said otherwise, despite countless such tries being awarded by them in Super League this season.

England can not have too many complaints; they benefited from a bizarre video referee decision in the first Test but, still, Widdop would have been left with an easy conversion here to level at 8-8 and set up a thrilling finale.

Instead, the pressure was eased for the Kiwis who would have scored far more points themselves if not for some remarkable England defence, the hosts protecting their line for 24 successive tackles at one point in the second period.

Centre Jordan Kahu slotted a drop goal three minutes from time to secure the victory, adding another painful defeat to England’s list against these opponents after the 2013 World Cup semi-final heartache at Wembley and last year’s Four Nations reverse.

Widdop and Issac Luke had exchanged early penalties but the game was level 2-2 at half-time before Kenny-Dowall’s try, converted by Kahu, proved so decisive.

McNamara said: “The result is disappointing, of course.

“I’m not too worried. I thought we played part of the game really well and that was our defensive effort.

“We defended well last week and we did that today, too. The problem was that we did too much defending on our goal line.

“Some of the errors we made were basic ones and although we didn’t crack in defence, it limited us with the amount of energy we had with the ball.

“In a game as tight as that, that is ultimately what cost us, the energy to really have a crack in attack.

“I’m still really confident we can turn this around.”

England: Hardaker; Burgess, Watkins, Bateman, Hall; Widdop, Williams; Graham, Hodgson, Hill, Whitehead, Farrell, O’Loughlin. Substitutes: Roby, T Burgess, Cooper, Ferres.

New Zealand: Tuivasa-Sheck; Kenny-Dowall, Whare, Kahu, Nightingale; Hiku, Nikorima; Bromwich, Luke, Moa, Proctor, Harris, Blair. Substitutes: Brown, Taupau, Matulino, Glenn.

Referee: Gerard Sutton (Australia)