England defeated by the All Blacks at Eden Park

13 Jul 2024 | 3 min | 1

England defeated by the All Blacks at Eden Park

England were defeated by New Zealand 24 – 17 at Eden Park in the second Test of the Summer Series.

Read George, Smith and Earl react to New Zealand loss

It was the final Test of England’s summer Tour having defeated Japan in Tokyo before narrowly losing twice in New Zealand.

Steve Borthwick’s side is next in action this November when they welcome back New Zealand and Japan to Twickenham Stadium, as well as Australia and South Africa.

England’s points came through Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman with seven points from the boot of Marcus Smith, while New Zealand struck through two Mark Tele’a tries and 14 points from Damian McKenzie.

Both teams started quickly and threatened in their opponent’s 22 during the first ten minutes.

New Zealand opened the scoring after 12 minutes. The hosts were awarded a penalty from the scrum and earned an attacking lineout in the England 22. After a few phases of attack, Tele’a picked the ball from the back of a ruck and darted down the blindside to score. McKenzie converted to make it 7-0.

England responded immediately. Smith spotted the hosts’ narrow defence and delivered a cross-field kick to Feyi-Waboso who stepped inside Finlay Christie to dot down. Smith converted to tie the score.

The hosts looked to have a second try before Smith intercepted a Tele’a pass on the try line. Shortly after, McKenzie added a penalty after England were found offside in their 22.

England had sustained periods of attack and threatened through a hard line from Ollie Lawrence and a Smith grubber-kick into the 22. Jordie Barrett slipped when collecting but Christie cleared their lines to relieve the pressure.

Both teams traded attacks before McKenzie scored another penalty in the 37th minute but England ended the half in the ascendency.

A second cross-field kick from Smith found Freeman who stretched to pluck the ball out of the air and score. Smith added the extras to give the visitors a 14-13 half-time lead.

Smith kicked a penalty to extend England’s lead before Dan Cole came on after 50 minutes to earn his 115h cap and surpass Jason Leonard’s record as England’s most-capped male forward. He also became the second most capped men’s player in England Rugby history.

A clever Smith kick landed five metres from the New Zealand corner flag and gave England the chance to threaten New Zealand’s lineout, but the hosts were awarded a free kick after England had too many players in the lineout.

At the other end of the pitch, England defended a 5m lineout and Mitchell cleared their lines to replacement Beauden Barrett. McKenzie chipped to Anton Lienert-Brown and the All Blacks backline found Barrett. He found a hole in England’s defence and passed to Tele’a to put him in for his second and give his team a one-point lead.

Sevu Reece then ran his team into the 22 before McKenzie added a penalty after 68 minutes to bring the score to 21-17.

New Zealand earned another penalty and McKenzie’s kick hit the post before going over to give his team a crucial seven-point advantage with five minutes to play.

With minutes remaining replacement Ollie Sleightholme darted down the wing to give his team territory. England were then awarded a penalty which Fin Smith kicked to the corner.

After collecting the lineout, England’s maul began to advance before New Zealand turned the ball over. They cleared their lines to Marcus Smith, now playing at fullback, who darted forwards. England attacked in the 22 before they were awarded a second penalty for the hosts being offside.

Maro Itoje collected the lineout and the visitors mauled towards the line but were held up by Beauden Barrett. However, New Zealand were awarded a penalty after Lawrence was deemed to be in front of the ball which the hosts kicked to touch for victory.