Defeat to All Blacks raises stakes for England’s clash with South Africa

By next year’s Rugby World Cup perceptions may be very different but England cannot now afford to look beyond this weekend. While a fifth consecutive defeat by New Zealand inside 12 months is not yet cause for panic, Ireland’s unexpected win over South Africa in Dublin has elevated the stakes for Stuart Lancaster’s squad. This Saturday’s game against the Springboks suddenly has a must-win feel to it.

This is because another England defeat – against a team that was good enough to have beaten New Zealand last month – really will shake Lancaster’s intricate 2015 plans. Get beaten by New Zealand, South Africa and Australia on home soil less than a year out from a World Cup and a big leap of faith will be required to imagine Chris Robshaw hoisting the Webb Ellis Cup next year. Be in no doubt that South Africa’s big forwards will be saying exactly the same thing.

This places additional pressure on England to stop getting into winning positions only to let games slip. As so often they again played well in parts on Saturday. New Zealand, as so often, simply played better when it mattered. England’s post-match frustration at not being sufficiently clinical was wearily familiar. “If we’re brutally honest, it is another ‘what if?’ acknowledged their full-back Mike Brown. “We’re here to win and again we’ve let it go.”

There will always be mitigating circumstances – England’s coaches effectively had only six full training sessions with their injury-disrupted side before the game – but other recurring issues still linger. The main one surrounds the area of game understanding, at which New Zealand continue to lead the world.

When the influential Brodie Retallick was forced off with a shoulder knock at half-time his side still found a way, simplifying their game in the wet and inviting England to tie themselves in increasing tactical knots. Even with 14 men on the field in the third quarter following the sin-binning of Dane Coles the All Blacks looked the more composed team.

It is this mental adroitness under fire which England still lack. If one is going to be harsh – and the England management must be – their tactical kicking (and chasing) was neither accurate nor cute enough.

Neither was their thinking sufficiently sharp towards the end. Despite their late penalty try the decision to opt for a penalty scrum was always destined to soak up too much time. Better to take the three points or quickly tap and go, as New Zealand would surely have done.

While it did not affect the final outcome, it did re-emphasise the value of quick-witted decision-makers. Major changes are unlikely but Billy Vunipola and Danny Care will both await this week’s team announcement with a little trepidation. Better out-of-hand kicking from both Care and Owen Farrell would have put far more pressure on the All Blacks and George Ford, excellent in that respect, must be getting ever closer to a start.

Either way this was a chance missed after an electric English response to the visitors’ vaudeville-style haka. Jonny May’s fourth-minute try was a real ‘I-was-there’ moment, a glorious mix of positive thinking and blinding pace. Robshaw and Joe Marler were everywhere in the first half while Dave Attwood and Kyle Eastmond both contributed plenty on their first Twickenham starts.

Had Brown managed to hold Eastmond’s pass wide on the right and Farrell not narrowly missed a drop-goal, the home forwards might even have had a 10-point half-time cushion as reward for their stirring efforts, instead of a slender three. Once again, though, England could not sustain their best for 80 minutes, never looking like winning once Richie McCaw’s try had put the All Blacks ahead. The subsequent curtains of heavy rain and a third try, this time by Charlie Faumuina, simply caused the home mood to darken further.

England could also have done with a few more dynamic game-changers off the bench. The lanky George Kruis did a wholehearted job of replacing the concussed Courtney Lawes but not until the closing stages did England regain consistent territory or momentum. They missed Lawes’ ball-carrying and were 10 points in arrears entering the last four minutes. New Zealand can still win games from there but England have yet to master the knack.

As much as anything else it demands a certain state of mind; both Kieran Read and Aaron Cruden, scorer of New Zealand’s first try, felt England became too negative. “They started really well, then maybe went away from their strength,” suggested Read. “They scored a great try by passing the ball but later on they closed up a bit. They will learn a lot from this game.”

Read and the All Black coach, Steve Hansen, were also correct to suggest the use of technology needs reviewing, spe-cifically the creeping influence of selective replays chosen by the home-based television director. “It cost us a Test match in South Africa,” said Hansen. “The TV producers are starting to annoy me now.” Read, for his part, feels the game is in danger of suffering from too many interruptions. “If that’s the way they are going to play it, it’s going to turn the game into NFL. You want them to make the right decisions but sometimes it’s a bit fussy. They should make a decision and stick to it.”

Regardless of which images the television match officials may or may not be watching, however, the All Blacks remain the stars of the show. McCaw’s side will also now privately feel they have England precisely where they want them should the countries’ paths cross again at the World Cup.

It is a familiar refrain and England badly need to lift the needle from a scratched piece of vinyl. After every Twickenham game nowadays a live band strikes up on a concourse in the East Stand after the final whistle. For whatever reason they inevitably kick off with the same Killers track regardless of their audience, the month or the weather. A change of tune is overdue on and off the field this weekend.

England Brown; Rokoduguni (A Watson, 61), Barritt, Eastmond (G Ford, 64), May; Farrell, Care (B Youngs, 61); Marler (Mullan, 54), Hartley (Webber, 73), Wilson (Brookes, 73), Attwood, Lawes (Kruis, 22), Wood, Robshaw (capt), Vunipola (Morgan, 52).

Tries May, penalty try. Con Ford. Pens Farrell 3.

New Zealand Dagg; B Smith, C Smith (Crotty, 47), Williams, Savea; Cruden (Barrett, 59), A Smith (Perenara, 66); Crockett (B Franks, 59), Coles (Messam, 66), O Franks (Faumuina, 47), Retallick (Tuipolotu, h-t), Whitelock, Kaino (Mealamu, 60), McCaw (capt), Read.

Tries Cruden, McCaw, Faumuina. Pens Cruden 2, Barrett.

Sin-bin Coles 56.

Referee N Owens. Att 82,223.