What is it with this team and close finishes? After an extraordinary final couple of minutes at Eden Park tonight which featured the television match official and a fair dose of controversy, the All Blacks have emerged with a 24-17 victory over England.
It means their famous 30-year undefeated record at their fortress remains intact. And yet, their incredible legacy seemed set to end not with a bang but with a whimper but for Beauden Barrett’s inspirational performance off the reserves bench.
A week after their narrow first Test win over England in Dunedin, they can truly celebrate because they appeared to get the rub of the green at the end, with all four match officials involved to discuss the merits or otherwise of England’s late attack which finished in a heap of bodies over the line.
England had claims that one of their players had scored, but any ball carrier appeared to be held up. And then came the other angles which included a potential obstruction by Barrett as the England maul tracked towards the tryline.
In the end the officials decided it was England at fault for the obstruction and that was that. The All Blacks kicked the penalty out and celebrated with a huge amount of relief.
It was just after the hour mark that Barrett, who replaced Stephen Perofeta at the back, first made his presence felt. It was a moment of rare quality which came after Tupou Vaa’i carried hard, with quick ball finding its way to Barrett, who sliced through and delivered for Mark Tele’a for his second try of the night.
The sideline conversion from Damian McKenzie just missed but the All Blacks had their noses in front 21-17 and England were finally playing catch-up.
There was more from Barrett, of course.
There was a quality pick up and clearance under pressure in his own territory, and then another, with a chip kick which he regathered with his foot and almost regathered again in more orthodox fashion, only to knock it on (excusable given the circumstances).
His brother, skipper Scott, said straight afterwards: “We had to dig deep here right to the last minute. Well done to England, two strong Test matches against us,”
The All Blacks’ replacements helped turn the game, with halfback Cortez Ratima, on after 53 minutes, having an excellent Test debut, and Anton Lienert-Brown a welcome distributor at centre.
The spark was finally there and England, increasingly resorting to convenient injury breaks, were struggling to stay with it.
That’s not to say they weren’t in the game, though. After taking a 14-13 halftime lead through the second of their cross-kick tries – a worrying vulnerability for the All Blacks – they were right up for it, the home side struggling for energy and a discernible game plan.
Beauden Barrett changed all that.
Early on the All Blacks were having success with their scrum, with England tighthead prop Will Stuart under pressure and conceding penalties, but the home side’s attacking lineout was again problematic.
Maro Itoje was again their tormentor. At one point midway through the first half, with the All Blacks leading 10-7, a kickable penalty was turned down in favour of a lineout just inside England’s 22m.
Rather than win the ball, though, Itoje hardly needed to jump to claim it and another opportunity was lost.
Things went more to plan early on with Tele’a stealing over in the left corner from an attacking ruck. It put the much-talked about shot clock to the test for the first time and there were farcical scenes when it stopped on 47 seconds – McKenzie kicked it regardless.
The 7-0 lead was, remarkably, New Zealand’s largest of the series. It wouldn’t last, with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso rising to claim Smith’s cross kick and stepping McKenzie to go in near the posts for a seven-pointer.
After an earlier promising breakout by Jordie Barrett and Codie Taylor, the All Blacks seemed on the brink of a defining move.
It wouldn’t quite come; Stephen Perofeta and Tele’a combining nicely down the left, but again the chance was lost, Perofeta passing to Tele’a once too often when Finlay Christie was unmarked outside him. Tele’a’s return pass found only Marcus Smith, although the All Blacks did well to trap him beyond his try-line.
Another England scrum penalty allowed the All Blacks to extend their lead via McKenzie’s boot, but, just like in Dunedin, they conceded moments before fulltime and in a bad way – Tommy Freeman rising for another cross-kick try with McKenzie and Tele’a in the vicinity again.
Smith’s conversion gave the tourists the halftime lead. He would kick a penalty to extend it after the break.
And then came Beauden Barrett and the All Blacks.
All Blacks 24 (Mark Tele’a 2 tries; Damian McKenzie con, 4 pens)
England 17 (Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman tries; Marcus Smith 2 cons, pen)
Halftime: England 14-13
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