By the time England kick off the Six Nations against France in Paris in early February the frustration of Saturday's defeat by the All Blacks will have been overtaken by more positive emotions. Of course they would have loved to have beaten New Zealand for the second successive time but there has been enough autumn improvement to suggest 2014 will be a good year for them.

Stuart Lancaster is already looking purposefully ahead, using the analogy of a clock face to articulate his belief his side are finally making up for lost time. "I think we're at 10 o'clock," he reflected, having seen his side win two of their three November Tests. "Teams at their lowest point are at six o'clock; those at their peak are at 12 o'clock. What the great teams – Manchester United, the All Blacks, Barcelona – do is change their team at 11 or 12 o'clock and stay there. I think we're rising up. Obviously the idea is to get to 11 and 12 o'clock by 2015 and stay there."

Rucking around the clock has a certain ring to it – Bill Haley would have approved – but Lancaster concedes England are not yet soaring comets in terms of their attacking cutting edge. The statistics of Saturday's outstanding match showed New Zealand enjoyed only 38% possession and 40% territory yet still scored three tries to one and won a game they were losing early in the final quarter. England, as against Argentina the previous week, were unable to finish what they had started.

Their end-of-year stats tell a broadly similar story. The final 2013 ledger shows they won nine of 11 Tests and scored 23 tries (15 against Argentina) at an average of barely two per game, even at home. By way of comparison the unbeaten All Blacks, now within one victory in Ireland of an unblemished calendar year, have played 13 Tests and scored 49 tries, an average of 3.77 per match. That is a gap England must close if they are to win trophies.

It will, accordingly, be fascinating to see if England can improve their strike-rate, not just in the forthcoming Six Nations but on their three-Test tour to New Zealand in June. Manu Tuilagi may play little part in the Six Nations because of injury but Lancaster will be keen to see what a fit Marland Yarde and Christian Wade can do. If Anthony Watson, Luther Burrell, Henry Trinder and Jonny May enjoy a productive December, opportunity could also materialise for them.

Around 38 players will tour New Zealand next summer, although a weakened team will have to be chosen for the First Test on 7 June because of the proximity of the previous weekend's Premiership final. "My best-case scenario is Newcastle v Sale," muttered Lancaster, who could fly out minus a third of his squad if two finalists from Saracens, Leicester and Northampton are involved.

The good news is that England are finally formulating a first-choice pack to make the rest of the world sit up and take note. Even outstanding forwards such as Richie McCaw, Kieran Read, Keven Mealamu and Liam Messam could be seen clinging on for dear life, with the try-scorer Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Billy Vunipola, Dylan Hartley, Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw enhancing their reputations. England may remain unsure what their best backline looks like but they have a much clearer idea up front.

If there is one individual, however, who characterises Lancaster's England it is the full-back Mike Brown. Outstanding all series, he donates his body, heart and soul every week and leaves others to fret over whether, with ball in hand, he is Israel Dagg. Few are and England should instead give him some wing-men and an outside centre with proper jet shoes. Neither Chris Ashton nor Ben Foden looked remotely as dangerous as Julian Savea, the fastest asthmatic in world sport, whose two tries increased his tally in his last two encounters with England to four.

It is in the area of game understanding, too, where New Zealand continue to be out in front. Read may have spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin but was still instrumental in the All Blacks' success, from the cute little off-load that set up Savea for his soft early score to the killer running line that helped his side into a 17-3 lead in the first quarter.

Even the loss of Dan Carter with a cruel calf strain on his 100th Test appearance – maybe those special gold boots exerted extra gravitational pull – could not disrupt a side with the priceless ability to think their way out of trouble.

Lancaster, for that reason, will be thrilled at Billy Twelvetrees' recovery from a grim start against Australia, with the Gloucester centre an increasingly key figure. Lee Dickson also brought a decision-making certainty and tempo that will mean he retains the jersey until Ben Youngs or Danny Care supplies the same organisational calm.

The fact remains, nevertheless, that England were 14 points behind after 18 minutes, a deficit few sides would have overcome. An ability to cope with intense, smartly applied pressure as consistently as the All Blacks is not, as yet, second nature. Which is why, despite a team-sheet featuring Billy, Joel and Dylan, this was a Meatloaf sort of autumn. Two out of three ain't bad but England are aiming higher than that.

England Brown (Harlequins); Ashton (Saracens), Tomkins (Saracens; Goode (Saracens, 76), Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Foden (Northampton); Farrell (Saracens; Flood (Leicester, 67), Dickson (Northampton; B Youngs (Leicester, 65); Marler (Harlequins; Mullan (London Wasps, 76), Hartley (Northampton; T Youngs (Leicester, 50), Cole (Leicester; Wilson (Bath, 76), Launchbury (London Wasps; Parling (Leicester, 47), Lawes (Northampton), Wood (Northampton), Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens; Morgan (Gloucester, 57)

Try Launchbury Con Farrell Pens Farrell 5.

New Zealand Dagg (Hawke's Bay); Piutau (Auckland; Crotty (Canterbury, 72), B Smith (Otago), Nonu Wellington), Savea (Wellington); Carter (Canterbury; Cruden (Manawatu, 25), A Smith (Manawatu; Kerr-Barlow (Waikato, 72); Woodcock (North Harbour; Crockett (Canterbury, h-t), Mealamu (Auckland; Coles (Wellington, 61), Franks (Canterbury; Faumuina (Auckland, 42), Retallick (Bay of Plenty), Whitelock (Canterbury; Romano (Canterbury, 51), Messam (Waikato; Luatua (Auckland, 65), McCaw (Canterbury, capt), Read (Canterbury).

Tries Savea 2, Read Cons Carter 2, Cruden Pens Carter, Cruden 2.

Sin-bin Read 33.

Referee C Joubert (South Africa) Attendance 81,739.