All Blacks v England - how (some of) the British press saw it

Cheats

New Zealand's vaunted fast game came a cropper against their own lack of accuracy and the English defence.

- Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times

New Zealand were forced to descend into a craven barrage of cheating in the second half, which cost them three men to the sinbin. If England had been able to summon just the occasional shaft of genius when they were totally dominant throughout the second half, then they would have won with something to spare.

- Jones again

The All Blacks had to 'commit every last offence known to the law book' to hold off England's second-half charge.

- Jones ... again

Crazed thugs

Sadly, too, this occasion may well have marked the last haka at Twickenham. New Zealand have now become so impossibly pompous and precious about the whole thing that it is time to end it here and now and to allow their blend of Samoans, Fijians and Pakehas to celebrate Maori culture in some other way.

- Jones continues the Times' pre-match barrage against the haka that likened the All Blacks to crazed thugs.

An average side

What [England] did do was show the way to the rest of the world. The All Blacks were made to look ordinary.

- Jones ... again

Outmuscled upfront

And if New Zealand eventually won it was England who finished with heads held high. They knew they had been outgunned by England up front and in terms of commitment and attitude generally.

- Paul Ackford in the Sunday Telegraph