‘Wasn’t about the scoreboard’: Why last year’s clash with England meant more to All Blacks

With a spot in the biggest rugby game on the planet up for grabs, the All Blacks were “outmuscled” by Eddie Jones’ England during their semi-final clash at the 2019 World Cup.

It all started with a now-famous smirk from Owen Farrell. As the All Blacks laid down their challenge with a passionate haka, the playmaker couldn’t help but smile.

Farrell was ready for a rugby war, and so was England. They shot out of the blocks with an early try to midfielder Manu Tuilagi, and never really looked like losing.

The All Blacks were beaten, and that hurt doesn’t just go away.

Three years later, the two sides met again during the Autumn Nations Series. The All Blacks travelled to London for a highly anticipated Test on the hallowed turf of Twickenham.

“For so much of the game, it wasn’t the scoreboard, it was the fact that three years earlier that team had outmuscled us in Japan,” coach Ian Foster said on NZR+ docuseries All Blacks: In Their Own Words.

“There we were on their home patch and I thought we played really well.”

New Zealand put on an attacking clinic during the first term, and took a comfortable 17-3 lead into the break. Coach Foster was pleased, telling his players that their errors were “positive mistakes.”

The All Blacks looked, at times, like a team possessed. England didn’t have any answers during the first half, and this trend continued for a period after the break.

Rieko Ioane finished a long-range try to extend the visitors’ lead, and nobody expected the All Blacks to give that up. But they did.

Following a yellow card to Beauden Barrett, the All Blacks lost their way. Flyhalf Marcus Smith ran riot in the final 10 minutes, and helped England claw their way back into the fight.

England levelled the scores at 25-all and had one more play to try and mount what would’ve been a match-winning drive. But the English kicked the ball out and settled for the draw.

“You want to go and win everything but when you don’t, our job is to be as real in our assessment of where we’re at as possible,” Foster added.

“I came away from the northern tour thinking, ‘Okay, in terms of our big rocks, we’ve moved them considerably.’

“We should never think that we’ve moved them enough and I promise everyone we’ll keep moving them.

“I do know that we’ve got a lot of confidence in the direction we’re going.”