LONDON — England have been here before, and this one will hurt. England talked all week about being tired of being on the wrong end of small margins.
It happened against France last March, and twice against the All Blacks in the summer. However, as the game ebbed into its final 10 minutes at the newly named Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, it looked like England for all the world had found a way to swing this arm wrestle in their favour.
But then came that awful, nagging feeling of unfortunate familiarity as England’s tempo slightly fell, and New Zealand raised theirs. Mark Tele’a’s finish in the 76th minute was astonishing, as he got through four England players and half of Twickenham to dot down.
Then came Damian McKenzie’s precise conversion from the touchline to give New Zealand a two-point lead, before it was England’s turn to try and find a match-winning moment.
They laid the platform, but it was those hellish narrow margins which did them in once more. First, George Ford’s penalty hit the post, then they forced a scrum thanks to Henry Slade’s tackle on Patrick Tuipulotu.
They had the match-winning platform, all set to tee up a drop-goal in front of the posts. But the system broke down, and the margin ended up being a a handful of metres to the right of the posts as Ford’s 80th-minute drop-goal sailed wide to leave New Zealand with a 24-22 victory.
As the ball left Ford’s foot, Twickenham erupted in a roar, expecting those in white to celebrate a match-winning moment in the final gasping seconds of a pulsating Test match.
A ripple of cheering went around the stadium, but then you saw Ford standing motionless, and the cheering subsided and gave way to an eerier quiet as the All Blacks stood triumphant, exhausted and relieved on the field.
But how this one will sting. England wanted four from four this autumn, and they had the opportunity to get off to the optimal start against New Zealand. This was an All Blacks team who had won only three from six in the Rugby Championship. A team going through transition, one still finding their feet under Scotty Robertson. This was going to be England’s best opportunity to win at home against New Zealand for the first time since 2012. This was winnable, but then, they’re the All Blacks, and have the aura and everything else for a reason.
The build-up to the match was dominated by talk of Joe Marler’s social media posts criticising the haka and two teams desperate to win. There were England who wanted to build a habit of winning at home; there were the All Blacks with bloodied noses after a subpar summer.
The haka passed without incident, England standing five metres back from the halfway line, then advancing as the Kiwis went through their pre-match ritual.
But the first shots in anger came through a Marcus Smith penalty after four minutes, and then Tele’a’s first of two match-winning contributions.
His opening try came in the eighth minute after he took a neat offload from the outrageously talented Wallace Sititi to dance round Ellis Genge and got New Zealand on the board.
As England kept the scoreboard ticking over from the tee — drawing eight first-half penalties and conceding just one — New Zealand unpicked England’s defence again after 27 minutes as Beauden Barrett’s inside pass found an on-rushing Will Jordan who, again, waltzed around Genge to score.
It was a two-point margin at half-time, but you sensed New Zealand were there for the taking.
England started the second half the better, their blitz defence leading New Zealand into all sorts of claustrophobic alleyways in midfield, and it wasn’t long until an interception from Smith in the 44th minute set up a great England score.
Smith picked off a poor pass from Cortez Ratima to sprint away from the defence, offload to George Furbank whose neat pass to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso saw him sprint away; think Chris Ashton’s try against Australia in 2010, but moulded by three players instead.
Unlike Ashton’s score in that memorable win, however, it ended up being a flash of brilliance in yet another valiant defeat.
This wasn’t a match decided by highlight reels, though if you do have five minutes, sit back and watch Sititi’s performance, it was astonishing from the All Blacks blindside in his breakout year.
Instead, this was decided by one team catching the right wave at the right time in the final moments, and the other unable to hold back the tide. The substitutions made in the final quarter didn’t bolster England’s momentum, but instead stunted it.
Ford, who hadn’t played a competitive match for a month, was unable to do what he’s done countless times and close out a match. England will take heart from Earl’s performance, some of the hip-shuddering tackles from Chandler Cunningham-South, and Slade’s return to fitness. There’s enough there to be positive about, but England are tired of that narrative having lost four of the last five tests by a collective 12 points, leading at half-time in each of those encounters.
The question for England now is a familiar one: How do you bounce back from a valiant defeat and ensure this autumn series is remembered as one where the team moved forward, rather than stayed still?
Winning the next three Tests is non-negotiable, with Australia first up back at the hallowed home turf next Saturday. They simply have to find a way to win these arm-wrestle Tests in the final gasping, and unfortunately agonising, moments.
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