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All Blacks survive arm-wrestle with England for one-point win
By Ned Lester
England travelled to Dunedin full of confidence and ambition, eyeing a rare win on New Zealand soil. Meanwhile, the All Blacks were looking to make a statement in their first game under new leadership.
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A nerve-wracking opening 40 minutes produced a 10-all scoreline, and by the full-time siren, just one point separated the two, with New Zealand escaping with the narrow win.
All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan said the team were expecting a rapid contest and that’s exactly what the opening exchanges delivered.
High kicks and wide play featured early before the first scrum packed down in the fourth minute. An early engage from the home side gifted England a shot at the posts, but Marcus Smith couldn’t find his target from 40 metres out.
England were dominant at the breakdown early, winning three turnovers in the opening eight minutes and forcing mistakes with their rapid defensive line speed.
The All Blacks struggled to get out of their half in the opening 10 minutes, until an inaccurate lineout throw from Jamie George handed the World Cup runners up another scrum, where Ethan de Groot went to work and won his side a penalty.
A giant Jordie Barrett kick got the All Blacks seven metres away from the English line, but a knock-on ended the play three phases in.
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The All Blacks found their rhythm soon after that first taste of the English 22, stringing together multiple phases for the first time in the game and throwing varied attack at the visitors.
A Damian McKenzie cross-field kick found the waiting arms of Sevu Reece, who collected the ball and scored in the corner to celebrate his superb comeback from an ACL injury.
England were creative on the counter-attack with Smith directing play, finding half-gaps which got them on the front foot. Once in New Zealand’s half, the ambition continued and Smith got the ball behind the defence with grubbers, each of which proved difficult for McKenzie to control.
The Kiwi No. 10 was forced to take the ball out just five metres from his tryline when Smith again put the ball through, and Maro Itoje got himself on the scoreboard with a tough short carry swiftly after the lineout. Smith added the extras.
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Three minutes later Stephen Perofeta made a break and Ardie Savea benefitted with a run-in in the corner. McKenzie again missed from the right touchline, keeping the lead to three.
England’s linespeed wasn’t having the same impact as the half wore on but their work at the breakdown remained strong, winning them possession and forcing New Zealand errors.
The high balls kept coming and while New Zealand’s backfield were up to the challenge, the pressure being applied was undeniable.
Two minutes after the halftime whistle was blown, Ollie Lawrence won England another breakdown penalty and Smith stepped up to the tee and tied the game at 10 apiece to end the half.
An English knock-on handed the All Blacks a scrum 90 seconds into the second period, but an uneven push was pulled up by the referee and the visitors would have had a three-point lead but Smith missed a relatively regulation kick.
Breakdown turnovers went both ways but it was England who looked the more convincing with possession to open the second half. Once a few phases had been counted, the visitors were able to expose gaps in the defence and get quick ball on the recycle.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was rewarded for his tireless work out wide with a try in the corner, finishing a physical and dynamic attacking passage. The wide conversion attempt from Smith was off.
A rare English breakdown indiscretion offered Damian McKenzie a crack at three points, and the lead was then reduced to two.
Another breakdown penalty relieved pressure on the All Blacks but England were back in favourable attacking position soon after thanks to a lineout steel.
The New Zealand reserves started to make their impact as the game entered its final quarter, and some quality game management from Beauden Barrett got the hosts into England’s half.
From there, another breakdown penalty offered McKenzie a shot at the lead and the score became 16-15 in favour of the hosts.
The reserve front rows finally met in a scrum in the 70th minute and it was a one-sided affair as Fletcher Newell and Ofa Tu’ungafasi charged forwards. Asafao Aumua botched a lineout throw and relieved that pressure.
It wasn’t the most clinical game in history but both teams were throwing everything into it. George Furbank may be having nightmares of Sevu Reece after the winger timed his chasing runs perfectly to nail the fullback under the highball.
Dramatic final moments ensued as Damian McKenzie was called for taking too long to kick a penalty and England had one last shot at a win.
A breakdown penalty 50 seconds after the whistle cemented the win. Final score: 16-15.
CAN YOU DEAL WITH THE HEAT?
NOW FOR THE ROAR OF A SOLD OUT STADIUM! IT’S NOW HOW YOU DEAL WITH THE PRESSURE OF HISTORY! THE BEST TEAM WILL WIN BETTER THAN IN DUNEDIN! RAZOR’S CALL!!
WELCOME TO GARDEN OF EDEN ENGLAND! WHEN YOU HEAR THE CROWD THE PRESSURE GROWS ! AFTER THAT IT’S HOW YOU DEAL WITH THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY AND THE WILY RAZOR ROBERTSON’S PLANS FOR YOUR BOYS HERE! THE BEST TEAM WILL WIN. NOTHING CUTS SHARPER THAN A RAZOR THROUGH BUTTER!
That was foolish the 78th minute penalty attempt by Damian McKenzie, the Ref got it right at the 78:20 sec mark, as McKenzie takes forever to kick the ball. BUT, I was disappointed they went for the penalty with slightly over two minutes to go. If it were SA, they would have kicked the ball out near the 10m line, and gone for the lineout. By the time the two sides set for the Lineout would have left 90 seconds of play left, and a short throw in win on your own throw to muscle out the England near their goal line for 90 seconds, was better than defending in your own half. If McKenzie had missed the penalty shot anyway, England would have held possession to run it at the ABs, and drive themselves into the ABs half in hope to get a penalty. Because if England were to win a penalty in their own 10m goal line, its better than England winning a penalty in the ABs half in the last few seconds.
He was saying the only input he got was ‘kick it’ from the ref but he blew whistle instead when he started to. You can see the ref standing very far away. can’t remember hearing him say anything myself.
I agree I thought corner and further delay tactics, England looked lost on D no penetration or matchwinners. Dmac would have kicked the ball dead I’m sure though, so a miss would also have been a good option getting the ball back from restart.
B.J. Spratt, the only reason why the BOKS won the World Cup final 12-11, was because due to the inconsistency of the TMO decision awarding a Red Card to Sam Cane, and a Yellow Card to Siya Kolisi, both went into the tackle, both head collisions, but Kolisi got away with only a 10min Yellow Card - double standards. Had Cane returned onto the filed as Kolisi did, the ABs would have probably won the 4th title. That was the second Final the ABs were robbed; where in 1995, 22 AB players were sick of food poisoning as South African’s spiked their food two-days prior to the final, and despite that Jonah Lomu in the 2nd-half scored the only try, conveniently, it was claimed by an off-field official as he received a “forward pass”, despite the replay never showed it was forward.
Pretty much sums it up, was just a slight improvement on 2020 Foster (big change from 2023 Foster/Schmidt) so still leaving a lot to be desired.
Roll on Eden Park!
Jesus ! What the F was that? A.B’s have as much chance of beating the Bok as I ha ve of getting a B.J. from the POPE!
Pull your pants down then BJ. Nothing I saw from the blue wearing Boks last night scared me.
A proper test match that one!, the English resurgence is the real deal. Both sides will be better off for the intense hit out, and the coaching staff and team analysts will be burning the midnight oil all week, another close one at fortress Eden park?, we shall see.
Makes me laugh that England are happy-with-that. It must have been a real hole Eddie left you guys in!
Loved it.
FurBallsOfSteele was great at fullback, massive from CCS, very impressed by that young English prop off the bench getting his first cap.
Sux for TJ doing his knee again, but enjoyed watching Sevu Reece and Telea and their work rate.
Perofeta had some fantastic moments so real stoked for him, especially as his selection was so criticised. (Well, it was by me. I wouldn’t have picked him to begin with.)
Perofeta played good for his debut. I prefer Beauden Barrett at No. 10., and Damian McKenzie for the No.15 spot, bring Perofeta off the bench this time round for Eden Park. Beauden’s style of chipping over the top and regaining possession is the way to break their defence, without always going wide. It’s a good thing Richie Mo’unga is not playing, not that I don’t want him to play, but it gives Beauden and McKenzie a chance to play No.10, until hopefully Mo’unga returns for us. I saw him and Shannon Frizell watching the game, gosh we need both of them back, including Will Jordan, and wish Leicester Fainga’nuku comes back too, play him at centre, a better line breaker than Reiko Ioane.
The medical staff needed to take TJ off, that guy is a maniac. He's clearly done his knee ligaments.
Furbank and Itoje were our best players I think. Chandler was also impressive and Fin Baxter did a fantastic job stepping in for Marler was a huge ask.
NZ deserved the win, England were excellent without the ball and pretty abject with it.
If England can defend like they did today and find a bit of cohesion with ball in hand, they can beat NZ next week.
We will take the win
.but we were terrible
NZ were good for a first hit out together. The English defence put them under huge pressure but they managed to find a way.
Not terrible
Not bad actually considering massive time out for the team and many players
New coaching group
“Terrible” teams don’t beat a very formidable opposition like England to be fair. But yes, plenty of work-ons, as expected. Onwards & upwards.
a 1 point ugly win is always better than any loss and now both teams have a week to sort themselves out before their final test at the AB’s fortress of Eden Park…a hollowed ground and graveyard for many teams…Go the AB’s..2-0 whitewash..
So much for english forward pack. Ha they got smashed!
No one in England is talking up our pack. That's just reputation. They're good in some respects but they don't have the same bulk and power of English packs of previous generations.
Both packs were poor.
ABs did not earn the right to go wide multiple times, attack was predictable esp the behind the back passes and Dmac kicked aimlessly at times and lacked control which I think goes back to the rush defense and pressure of the English. Thought Tuipolotu and SB did well at locks although that 6 jersey is still up for grabs. Perofeta played a good game and will grow in confidence from here. Hats off to the English who fought hard all game…
No I think you’re right about your first point and that it was strategy with ball in hand that had them lacking control.
Fineau failed an HIA in 4th quarter of the test. Perenara’s knee looks to be a significant injury too so I would expect the only changes to the lineup to be at 6 and 9, possibly 13 as Rieko played very poorly (3 missed tackles out of 8 attempts) and despite the Blues’ magnificent season, he has struggled in attack.
Would like to see 6 Blackadder, 9 Ratima, and 13 Lienart-Brown next week with Ioane on the bench swapping with ALB (Ioane can cover 13 and both wing spots).
However my guess is that Razor will go with continuity and give Ioane one more shot at cementing the 13 jersey before he selects Billy Proctor at 13 vs Fiji.
I'm not sure that earning the right to go wide in the traditional sense applies so well against England. The way England blitz defend with the 13 biting in means there is so much space out wide. Normally you need to create the space out wide by earning the right but that space is already there if you can get the ball to it. It was a strategy from the ABs to get the ball to the outside by any means necessary and it was pretty successful.
England were terrible ball in hand, we kicked away too much possession and when Mitchell and Marcus Smith went off we lost all momentum.
If England keep the ball in hand a bit more and play with more belief, they've got a great chance next week. England's attack in the 6N was much sharper, they looked a bit overawed by playing the ABs and went back to negative rugby. They will get a lot of confidence from this and I hope will throw a few more punches in attack next week. It's going to be another great game.
Rusty..first test etc.
looked a lot like Foster’s back play .getting smashed by the Eng rush defence because they were moving the ball sideways while they were standing still..Holland said at half time that they needed to play more direct before they moved the ball wide..can’t have got the message our backs were ppoorforwards battled it out
.all credit to Eng
.a pity Marcus Smith missed a few kicks at goal.
Congrats to the ABs and Robertson who gets his international career up and running with win.
Looked pretty ominous in the first half and thought the ABs were starting to move it about really well, but credit to England who stayed in the fight and then started asking some questions of their own.
Disappointing from an England perspective, especially the 4th quarter, but plenty of positives and hopefully, it’ll be another close one next week.
ABs fan here. Man! England were great! Awesome to watch. Furbank was epic. The game could've gone either way. Looking forward to next week. ABs will hopefully get more cohesive.
Well said.
I remember getting accused of “bluster” and arrogance pre-match for saying England would be very competitive. The match unfolded as expected, it was blitz defence against Kiwi skill. NZ deserved the win and were the better team but if England were a little more ambitious in attack as they were in the 6N, they would have won. I think England will be a lot more confident next week and will attack better.
Poor ALL BLACK performance. . . The Poms outsmarted us. . .Can’t believe the after match “Bullshit”
The poms were quite bad and we beat them by one point…….[Jesus
Geez some people are just silly.
Firstly, you’re not giving England enough credit. They’re a really good squad. Secondly, if you think the ABs are going to look a million bucks after spending 10 days together with an entirely new coaching squad, you’re on something.
Did you expect the All Blacks to playing at 100% efficiency after 10 days in camp.
The All Blacks played against an England team that had played a test two weeks earlier running the same lineup and had some continuity going that All Blacks could not have had in this test.
Good teams win ugly. The All Blacks won. Smile.
The “Poms” weren't bad.
England were awful ball in hand and exceptional without it. This England team are capable of creating a lot more in attack and went away from the gameplan which was successful against Ireland and went back to using attacking kicks and built no phases. They'll be buoyed by today and desperate for a W. Next week is going to be a great match and I think you'll see a bit more with ball in hand from England.
lol
The All Blacks will get better.
WOOHOO what a fricking arm wrastle. Great game. England looks really good.
Great game. Well done both teams