The All Blacks have reflected on their “hurt” and disappointment at seeing their hopes of a Grand Slam crushed 33-19 by a dominant England this morning.
From 12-0 up after 19 minutes, thanks to tries from Leicester Fainga’anuku and Codie Taylor, to 12-25 to England just before the hour mark, the All Blacks imploded like they have often this year, including in their defeats to Argentina and South Africa.
After eking out victories over Ireland and Scotland with periods of accuracy and efficiency on this tour, their luck ran out at Twickenham as England played with a composure and intelligence that the visitors simply could not match.
It means the Grand Slam tour is a failure with a Test against Wales to come, and the disappointment was writ large on the faces of hooker Taylor, yellow carded for what was deemed a cynical act early in the second half, skipper Scott Barrett and head coach Scott Robertson.
“It’s hard to win a Grand Slam,” Robertson said. “We definitely know how hard it is to win now. It hurts, you know, because we wanted to put our names on the history board like others have done.”
Clearly, the All Blacks wanted to emulate the deeds of the 2010 All Blacks, led by the great Richie McCaw, in sweeping all before them on a northern tour, but this group are nowhere near that level and should have few complaints about the result or even the scoreline.
“England were pretty efficient when they got into our half and they came away with points,” captain Barrett said. “They had more entries in our half and George Ford was pretty accurate with his boot – he kept the scoreboard ticking over.
“The last couple of games we finished quite well but tonight we didn’t quite have that.”
Of the Grand Slam miss, Barrett said: “It’s a goal we set out to achieve a few weeks ago. England pulled the rug out from under us.
"We’ll quickly put our focus towards Wales and finishing strong. It is hugely disappointing to come away with a loss here. We’ll reflect and have to bounce back and get better.”
Ford’s two dropped goals late in the second half after Beauden Barrett twice missed touch with penalty kicks told a story in itself – one of clear-minded efficiency over a lack of attention to detail.
Taylor’s yellow card early in the second half for an attempt to knock the ball out of Marcus Smith’s hands in a tackle, which was picked up by the ever-alert television match official, appeared marginal at best, but there were no arguments from the man himself or the skipper and head coach.
Remarkably, it was the first penalty of the match conceded by the All Blacks.
“Personally, I feel like I let my country down a little bit there with the yellow card, and I just want to apologise and own that,” Taylor told Sky Sports immediately afterwards.
Barrett said it appeared Taylor had been “caught with his hand in the cookie jar”, while Robertson described it as “cynical”.
Once England loose forward Sam Underhill and second-five Fraser Dingwall went over in the third quarter – once again a disastrous period as far as the visitors were concerned – there was never a likelihood of Robertson’s men plotting their way back.
Despite ruling the lineouts, even without Fabian Holland, who withdrew late through illness, New Zealand could not match England's physicality or ability to manage the game and the big moments.
Once again, the period after halftime was marked by passivity, if not outright confusion about how to go about putting the opposition under pressure.
“We’ve tried to educate ourselves as much as we can about how to keep the momentum going,” Robertson said. “It’s frustrating.”
It may be the abiding memory of the tour, if not the year, for Robertson and the All Blacks. England lost three tight Tests to the All Blacks last year, but have improved significantly and are always difficult to beat at home.
Meanwhile, the All Blacks don’t appear to have developed significantly at all.
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