Key events
I’ll be back later for Ireland vs Australia, thanks for your company for this match.
Here is the full match report
All the chat on TV post match is about how England will wish they were playing South Africa next week, as it’s important to test yourself against the best and so on. This a very dismissive of a capable Argentina team who are certainly playing better than the All Blacks this Autumn.
“Can we please give Roebuck his dues for that pick up for the final try?” begs Brendan Large. “I have not heard anyone say a word about it. Even in normal game that was good but in that situation with that amount of pressure it was simply remarkable!”
Agreed, Brendan. He had a very strong game overall as well.
George Ford is Man Of The Match.
“I enjoyed it, but we had to work a few things out like that yellow card late on. We ended up twelve points down but we stuck to our plan. The drop goals were part of the plan, it’s important to get rewards for the work the forwards were doing. We’ll keep our feet on the ground and keep going.”
ENGLAND BEAT THE ALL BLACKS AT TWICKENHAM!
80 mins. The lineout is overthrown by NZ, Cowan-Dickie tidies up and Spencer whomps it off the park to finalise the victory. That’s ten wins on the bounce for England and their first against New Zealand at Twickenham for thirteen years.
79 mins. England are a but eager in defence and move offside. McKenzie finds touch on the 22.
78 mins. Middle of the park mediocrity from the All Black attack is contained by England
TRY! England 33 – 19 New Zealand (Tom Roebuck)
77 mins. New Zealand chuck the ball behind their own players in their 22, which is pounced on by Pollock to hack it forward. He slices it off the outside of his right foot but Roebuck is there to scoop it up and score.
76 mins. A very tidy gather of the restart allows Spencer to boot clear.
PENALTY! England 28 – 19 New Zealand (George Ford)
75 mins. The hush descends and Ford casually bisects the posts. NZ now have to score twice to win! Huge kick, that.
74 mins. It’s not exactly a tidy scrum from the All Blacks, but they do enough to allow Ratima to boot it clear to touch. At the lineout Sititi is penalised for jumping across the line and it’s well within Ford’s range, 30 metres on the angle to the right of the posts. He calls for the tee…
72 mins. The rolling maul starts from the England lineout and marches ten metres towards the NZ 22. Mitchell takes the option to chip a kick for Roebuck to chase, but the winger can’t claim it cleanly and spills it forward.
71 mins. Another careless NZ penalty give away, this time for Fainga’anuku mistiming his tackle on Ford who is in the air catching the ball. Ford despatches it to touch on the NZ 10m line.
69 mins. Lienert-Brown is untidy with his clearout in midfield and flops onto the ball, giving the Ref and easy decision to penalise him for sealing the ball off. This allows England to boot clear and take some heat out of this continuing sin-bin period.
67 mins. Cowan-Dickie’s throw is squint into the lineout and this adds more worries for England, who have to play for another seven minutes with fourteen men against a resurgent All Blacks.
TRY! England 25 – 19 New Zealand (Will Jordan)
65 mins. Two strong carries from off the next lineout maul suck in the England defence and that’s all the opportunity McKenzie needs to call for the ball and find Jordan in space.
Conversion added.
YELLOW CARD! Ben Earl (England)
64 mins. An NZ catch and drive moves them towards the line before Earl is penalised for side entry. Given the context the ref considers it worthy of a card.
63 mins. The possession comes to nothing other than a brilliant deep kick behind Smith from McKenzie. The England fullback is isolated and holds on to give a 5m lineout to NZ near the England line.
61 mins. England are on top everywhere in this half, with the latest example being a scrum penalty won against the head as the All Black pack crumples under an eight-man shove.
60 mins. Frantic passing from NZ loses the ball and Genge scoops it up to get his side on the attack from their 22. The ball is moved to Roebuck, but the scramble from the visitors’ defence forces a knock-on in the tackle on the England winger.
58 mins. For the first time in what feels like an hour, NZ are in the England 22 and running through the phases. The home side drift offside and the All Blacks opt to tap and go from ten metres out.
TRY! England 25 – 12 New Zealand (Fraser Dingwall)
55 mins. Jordan takes a brilliant flying catch from a Mitchell bomb, but this is equalled by the England defenders meeting him as he hits the ground to win a turnover that Ford whams to touch or a 50:22.
On first phase from the lineout, Lawrence takes a crash ball and pops it left just before contact to Dingwall on a clever and later angle who walks in through a gap.
Polo Cockta is not happy.
“I’m listening on the radio and I’d much rather hear the crowd and the atmosphere after a score than yet another hit of ‘Free From Desire’. who is it in production that thinks this enhances the game?”
The persistence of this song for nearly three decades is one of the reasons I would welcome the asteroid.
50 mins. A big moment as England push the NZ pack back like a wheelie-bin to win a scrum penalty. Yes, the All Blacks are a man short, but even so. The lineout is won at the tail for Roebuck to rush through the crowd into space to feed Earl, who offloads to Ford on his shoulder to gallop to the line. But the roar of the crowd turns to a groan as the TMO wants a word with the ref.
There was a hint of a knock on from Earl, but this secondary to the fact that the England backline was offside at the lineout prior to the break. NO TRY!
That is a huge decision and moment in the game as England’s momentum was starting to feel unstoppable.
48 mins. Roigard puts a speculative bomb up that Smith fumbles forward to Carter who races forward into the 22. But the lack of precision haunts the All Black attack again, with Fainga’anuku losing the ball.
46 mins. A penalty for NZ gives them some possession after an opening five minutes that has left them in a daze. The usual patterns of predictable midfield carries start that are easily contained by the white defensive wall.
TRY! England 18 – 12 New Zealand (Sam Underhill)
43 mins. England’s decoy runners have the NS defence guessing and that’s enough for Pepper to carry up to close to the line. Mitchell steps up to find Underhill who is too strong to stop for a metre out.
Converted by Ford
YELLOW CARD! Codie Taylor (New Zealand)
42 mins. Roigard sends a settling clearing kick to touch after his forward receive a tidy restart. England return to NZ territory but can’t control possession at the ruck, with the reason being Taylor punched the ball out of Smith’s hands on the ground.
That’s enough for Ref Piardi to send the hooker for 10 mins. Seems a bit harsh, that.
Second Half!
Ford restarts the match
Matt in NZ, where it is 5am, messages.
“I’m all for England kicking another six drop kicks and NZ having another three unconverted tries with Mr Barrett unable to kick the skin off a rice pudding. Prediction: England 29 – 27 NZ”
