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England beaten by All Blacks in Autumn opener
Despite an Immanuel Feyi-Waboso score and 17 points from the boot of Marcus Smith, a late Mark Tele'a try and Damian McKenzie conversion saw England fall 22-24 to New Zealand.
In their first home Test since March England got off to an enterprising start, with clever cross-field kicks intended to exploit space probed into the air, Feyi-Waboso proving an aerial threat early on.
Borthwick’s men also showed great interlinking play as forwards and backs combined to build phases, command possession and dictate tempo to earn territory.
Smith opened the host’s account on the four-minute mark with a simple penalty, but New Zealand struck back just minutes later. Mark Tele'a took advantage of a one-on-one after Wallace Sititi sucked in two English defenders to offload into the winger’s path for an easy score. Beauden Barrett added the extras for a 3-7 lead after 10 mins.
Ill discipline in defence from the All Blacks allowed Smith another three-pointer which he duly struck over, closing the gap to a single point, but as half hour approached Will Jordan sliced through England’s line, cantering in from 30 metres. Barrett, who assisted the try, converted the effort to give the visitors an eight-point buffer.
Another tackle off the ball from the All Blacks led to Smith’s ninth point of the Test, as England refused to be bullied, and a momentum-shifting tackle from Chandler Cunningham-South was the catalyst behind another penalty, which Smith sent through the uprights moments before half-time to make it 12-14.
Despite the close scoreline, the stats at the break showed a dominant kiwi performance, as they boasted more metres, carries, clean breaks and offloads, as well as beating more defenders than England.
The moment of the match came four minutes into the resumption. Deep inside his own half Smith turned defence into attack in a flash with a fantastic intercept. The fly-half accelerated away and made it 50 metres before feeding George Furbank, who immediately provided a try assist pass to Feyi-Waboso. The successful conversion made it 19-14.
A Barrett try on the hour mark was ruled out because of an earlier deliberate Caleb Clarke knock on, and reversed to a penalty. Up stepped Smith to claim his fifth penalty - keeping his perfect record off the tee in tact - and opening an eight-point lead.
Replacement Damian McKenzie reduced the deficit to five points with a neatly taken penalty on 67 minutes, as New Zealand seemingly wrestled the match away from England with a second Tele'a try. McKenzie's extras from out wide making it 22-24.
Anton Lienert-Brown was shown a yellow card in the final three minutes of the match for a dangerous tackle on Theo Dan, giving replacement fly-half George Ford an opportunity at posts. The Sale Sharks man struck the uprights, and New Zealand fumbled the collection at the base of the posts. The resulting scrum and phases of English attack set Ford up for a drop goal finish, but the effort was pushed wide.
