Editorial: All Blacks never in real danger

The All Blacks were never in any real danger playing the English.

I'll admit it, I may have underestimated the English side - to an extent.

Their 28-27 loss to our All Blacks, on paper, may have them a real threat for next year's Rugby World Cup.

But I'm going to put my neck out their once again and say I think the scoreline actually flattered them.

Sure, it was the best English performance I have seen in some time - especially the first 10 minutes of the match where they managed to shut the ABs out.

England were on fire and before we knew it they were up 10 points.

But as I said last week, the boys in black were always going to lift.

They weathered the English onslaught, kept their composure and slowly added pressure and turned up the heat.

Sure, there was a heart-flutter moment when Manu Tuilagi cantered off down the field but thanks to the magical work of Ben Smith, who brought Tuilagi down like a lion would his prey, I was able to go into the break thinking we still have control despite being down 6-10.

Whatever Steve Hansen said at halftime, he needs to bottle that because the All Blacks put the blowtorch to the men in white and with 10 minutes to go the game was wrapped up.

Yeah, sure, England scored the last 14 points. Mind you, grounding the ball means it needs to touch some part of the ground, I would have thought.

What the English lack is the instinct to play attacking rugby when the pressure goes on and they're in oxygen debt.

More often than not they elect to kick the ball away.

The third and final test is in Hamilton and again I'm sure it will be another colossal clash. Lets hope we can have a repeat of Saturday night's performance.

Although, I'd prefer not too many heart-fluttering moments. Oh, and a bigger margin please.