Not so long ago scoring three tries against the All Blacks and losing by a single point thousands of miles from home would have been regarded as a decent outcome. Not any more. England have a very different relationship with defeat these days. As their full-back Mike Brown bluntly observed: “We are not going to start applauding failure. We don’t applaud mediocrity. We are in a business where winning counts. If we want to win a World Cup, we’ve got to beat teams like New Zealand.”
For Brown and his team-mates it matters not that England have never accumulated more Test points on Kiwi soil, nor pushed the world champions to the edge for the second weekend in a row. A collective losing margin of six points over two Tests has simply made it harder to accept the All Blacks are 2-0 ahead with just the third Test in Hamilton to play. England did not travel south to finish second, as is now their series fate.
Yet again the same old question presents itself: how can an improving England side turn these narrow reverses into something more rewarding? And, just as pertinently, can they unearth the secret between now and the 2015 Rugby World Cup? Setting out to be as ruthless as New Zealand is all fine and dandy. Mastering the art is a subtly different matter.
The first prerequisite is to be honest and identify the nub of their problem. This defeat was not, in the end, a failure of fitness or muscle. England were still going strong right to the end and would have fancied a real grandstand finish had there been more time on the clock. Instead, as was the case in the final 10 minutes at Eden Park, there was a failure of rugby navigation either side of half-time as much as execution. Clear-headed game management remains England’s recurring issue, particularly when they are in front.
If there is one lesson they will take from this tour it is the importance of not giving good teams unnecessary momentum at crucial junctures. Just after half-time, with England leading 10-6, Billy Twelvetrees was attacking confidently with men to his left, only to turn inside and allow possession to be snaffled by the All Blacks. Within seconds Aaron Cruden and Julian Savea had expertly worked Ben Smith over for a counter-attacking score at the other end which altered the game’s entire complexion.
But would Owen Farrell have identified the available space as swiftly and effectively as Cruden? How many English players possess the rugby intelligence of Conrad and Ben Smith, both of whom compensate in brain-power for what they might lack in relative brawn? The debate over Manu Tuilagi’s best position, in many ways, misses the real point. International-class outside backs are ultimately distinguished by the speed of their wits. Tuilagi may not yet be a world-class wing but, measured against the Smiths, he remains an apprentice midfield creator as well.
New Zealand would certainly have found a way to score the long-range turnover try that Tuilagi was unable to finish just before the interval. Chris Ashton and Jonny May, to name but two, would also have fancied the 75-metre sprint but Ben Smith’s cover tackle was made easier by the average footwork and lack of evasion skills shown by his quarry.
Tuilagi’s sweet offload for Ashton’s late score demonstrated decent hands but his strengths are more bludgeon than rapier. And that, in the end, is why England keep falling fractionally short.
When Chris Robshaw found himself running alone down the left while seven of his frustrated colleagues stood ignored to the right it further suggested England’s scanning of possibilities is not what it could be. If they want to play high-tempo, ambitious rugby, that simply has to change. The other brutal truth is that the error count of England’s scrum-halves in the two Tests has been way too high. Their composure has been shaky at precisely the moments it needed to be rock solid.
The postmortems will also mention that, when New Zealand attack with purpose, there is an uncluttered simplicity to how they do it. Rarely does a prop forward take delivery of the ball in midfield, which seems to happen with England on a regular basis. There is also the matter of replacements; by the time Courtney Lawes and Billy Vunipola rumbled on, New Zealand were rampant and England were firefighting. It might not have changed the result but, for maximum impact, they should have come on with Dylan Hartley some 10 minutes earlier.
Fine margins and all that. Had Tuilagi added another try to Marland Yarde’s seventh-minute effort, England could easily have kicked off the second half leading 17-3. Defying New Zealand’s purple patch in the third quarter, which also yielded tries for Savea and Ma’a Nonu, might still have been awkward but the mindset of both sides would have been appreciablydifferent.
Experience is part of it; England are still acquiring the necessary layers of wisdom while New Zealand are unbeaten at home for five years. But if the visitors want to play like the All Blacks they need to find more All Black-style players, capable of transforming the tempo at a moment’s notice and counter-attacking both smartly and swiftly. England are getting closer, but they need to be cleverer.
New Zealand: B Smith (Highlanders); Jane (Hurricanes), C Smith (Hurricanes), Nonu (Blues), Savea (Hurricanes); Cruden (Chiefs); Barrett (Hurricanes, 50), A Smith (Highlanders); Perenara (Hurricanes, 76); Woodcock (Blues); Crockett (Crusaders, 65), Coles (Hurricanes); Mealamu (Blues, 61), Franks (Crusaders); Faumuina (Blues, 65), Retallick (Chiefs); Tuipulotu (Blues, 76), Whitelock (Crusaders), Messam (Chiefs); Vito (Hurricanes, 65), McCaw (Crusaders, capt), Kaino (Blues).
Tries B Smith, Savea, Nonu. Cons Cruden, Barrett. Pens Cruden 2, Barrett.
England: Brown (Harlequins); Tuilagi (Leicester), Burrell (Northampton); Ashton (Saracens, 74), Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Yarde (Harlequins); Farrell (Saracens), Care (Harlequins); B Youngs (Leicester, 71); Marler (Harlequins); Mullan (Wasps, 71), Webber (Bath); Hartley (Northampton, 48), Wilson (Bath); Brookes (Newcastle,76), Launchbury (Wasps); Lawes (Northampton, 57), Parling (Leicester), Wood (Northampton), Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), Morgan (Gloucester); B Vunipola (Saracens, 57).
Tries Yarde, Brown, Ashton. Cons Farrell 3. Pens Farrell 2.
Sin-bin Farrell, 58.
Referee J England (SA). Att 28,470.
