All Blacks: 'Worst NZ side I've seen at Twickenham'

All Blacks centre Conrad Smith looks to evade the tackle of Engalnd's Johnny Wilkinson. Photo / Getty Images

British rugby writer Stephen Jones has described the All Blacks as one of the worst New Zealand sides in recent memory.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Jones said the All Blacks' 19-6 win at Twickenham was nothing short of a humiliation for England.

"The truth must be grasped. This was the least impressive, least dynamic and least effective New Zealand team I have ever seen play at Twickenham," Jones wrote.

"The visitors in black fell so dramatically short of their billing that, frankly, they could have been anybody."

Aside from some nice touches by Dan Carter and Mils Muliaina, the usual dazzling attack and pace had alarmingly disappeared, he said.

"If you took Richie McCaw out of their back row, you would have a back five of nothing more than mediocrity at this level, and no team will ever deem themselves without a chance against New Zealand should they be confronted by the fragility of Jimmy Cowan at scrum-half."

In the Guardian, Paul Hayward lamented: "The first 20 minutes were a symphony of defiance, as Martin Johnson's mob grasped the reality that the All Blacks come in two forms: the Brazil of the oval ball game, and the panicky, exasperated fumblers of many a World Cup anticlimax.

"Given licence to play, New Zealand will smash your dreams. Assailed from the first whistle, they will scramble for their patterns and rhythms and resent the interventions of lesser beings.

"This is a fault line in All Black rugby, but to exploit it England required more than John Bull tenacity."

- NZPA