KEY POINTS:
LONDON - A patchy All Blacks wheeled out their long-range rugby weaponry to blast England off Twickenham 41-20 this morning.
An All Blacks side struggling for rhythm in the first test of their season-ending tour, crossed for four tries, all born inside their own half to keep a game England at arm's length.
The English managed three tries of their own but were never in the hunt after the All Blacks sizzled over twice late in the first half to take a 28-5 lead.
>> Herald rugby writer Wynne Gray's view of the match
First five-eighth Daniel Carter, named man of the match after being called in as a late replacement for Nick Evans, produced an eight-from-10 goalkicking performance for 19 points with the boot.
The All Blacks have just six days before facing France in Lyon and coach Graham Henry will ask his men for more accuracy in several facets of play. They were opened up surprisingly easily at times by a new-look England backline and their option-taking was lacking at times.
The world champion English slumped to a sixth straight defeat, their worst sequence in 35 years, but they appeared satisfied with what was a step up from a dreary Six Nations campaign and disastrous tour of Australia.
There was no noticeable antipathy from spectators towards the New Zealanders in response to comments earlier in the week critical of the Twickenham crowd from All Blacks Aaron Mauger and Anton Oliver.
England had more than enough of the first half play, grafting out an edge in territory but paid for lapses which the lethal All Blacks back division turned into a flattering 23-point advantage at the break.
The boot of Carter had put New Zealand 6-0 up through twin penalties inside the first 15 minutes but it was England who were unlucky not to be leading at that stage.
An apparent try to centre Jamie Noon was disallowed after some slick backline work put him across the tryline. The grounding was obscured and French third match official Christophe Bertos opted against giving Noon the benefit.
Winger Rico Gear set in motion a sweeping move, resulting in New Zealand's first try to second five-eighth Mauger. A highlight was the support play of prop Tony Woodcock, who was the only player within cooee of Gear after a 50m break and looked to score off a deft side-step before being halted metres shot.
Justice was served from Noon when he scored on the half hour, latching onto a bouncing pass from second five-eighth Anthony Allen that looked to have drifted forward.
Up 13-5 with three minutes remaining in the half the All Blacks put the result beyond doubt with 15 rapid-fire points.
Carter kicked a penalty from 55m on the angle and moments later winger Joe Rokocoko scorched about the same distance, having intercepted a loose pass from 20-year-old new cap Allen.
With 40 minutes up, the All Blacks weren't done, launching a 70m counter that went through nearly 20 pairs of hands before prop Carl Hayman strolled over in the right corner for a memorable first test try.
England opened the second spell with the same endeavour of the first, winger Ben Cohen crossing after some fine leadup work.
Hodgson and Carter missed penalty attempts before Carter sliced over for the All Blacks' fourth try, fending off Allen to cap a simple counter from a deep England dropout.
The hosts managed a long-range try of their own through debut halfback Shaun Perry, who gratefully accepted a kick straight into his stomach from Mauger and scampered 60m.
England clambered to within 15 points with 15min remaining through a Hodgson penalty which came from what was deemed to be a professional foul by Masoe, resulting in his sinbinning.
It was a miserable case of deja vu for Masoe, who was shown a yellow card late in last year's fixture here and also spent time off the field while props Tony Woodcock and Neemia Tialata were in the sinbin.
Carter kicked two penalties to round out the scoring.
The second came courtesy of unscrupulous England lock Danny Grewcock, who was penalised for pulling the hair of halfback Andy Ellis, who had replaced Byron Kelleher moments before to earn his first test cap.
SCORING
New Zealand 41 (Aaron Mauger, Joe Rokocoko, Carl Hayman, Daniel Carter tries; Carter 5 pen, 3 con)
England 20 (Jamie Noon, Ben Cohen, Shaun Perry tries; Charlie Hodgson pen, con)
Halftime: 28-5
- NZPA
