George & Borthwick react to late loss
England captain Jamie George and head coach Steve Borthwick give their post-match thoughts on a close encounter with the All Blacks.
Jamie George: "I'm really proud of the effort of the boys. The way we apply ourselves, we try to play the game fast and put teams under a huge amount of pressure with our set piece and that's very physically demanding. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and perform the way we do. I couldn't be more proud of the way the guys did that.
"The challenge for this week is going to be brushing ourselves off, learning as quickly as we can and getting ourselves right for Australia, but one thing I know about this team is that we want to learn fast, we're keen as anything. Most of the time Steve is having to pull us back in training because everyone is itching to get out there and want to get better."
On Immanuel Feyi-Waboso: "I couldn't be more impressed with Manny. Not only do you see it in open space, but he also made a lot of tough carries. The way he was in the air, some of his athleticism on show tonight was absolutely incredible. We're very privileged to have a real wealth of quality players out wide, Tommy Freeman was excellent again tonight and that's a massive string to our bow. The best thing about, Manny, Tommy and all the guys in this team is they're very humble guys, they want to get their head down, they want to learn and work hard. It's a hugely exciting time for them and this team as a whole."
Steve Borthwick: “There was an opportunity to win the game, there were some clear reasons why we didn’t against a very good New Zealand team. We gave them a window to get back and they took it.
"But it is important to understand how much went right. This England team led by Jamie really played some smart rugby today and we didn’t get the win we wanted but this team is developing into a very strong team.
"The ball has missed by the width of a post, and it could’ve gone one way or another. That is Test rugby. We will be better next week."
On Chandler Cunningham-South: "Chandler's development over this last period of time has been excellent. I think he's a real determined player who is growing to be a real Test match player. This is a very young man who changed clubs and had to develop and learn the system at a new club and how that operates. At the same time he's had to alter his position, he's played some at six and mainly at eight, now he's working at six and I think he's doing a tremendous job."
