All Blacks head coach Ian Foster. Photo / Photosport
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster. Photo / Photosport
By Liam Napier at Twickenham
A chaotic collapse left a deflating mood descending over the All Blacks at Twickenham. Their final test of the year should have finished with a morale-inflating victory. That instead transformed in the blink of an eye to a dramatic draw that resembled a loss.
For71 minutes the All Blacks were everything Ian Foster wanted them to be. The forward pack flipped the script on the 2019 World Cup semifinal defeat to largely dominate England on their home patch. The All Blacks scrum held the upper hand throughout; their maul attack and defence impressed. Their direct carries sucked defenders in to create space for crossfield kicks to pick England apart.
Leading 25-6 with nine minutes remaining the All Blacks had to close out this gripping, headline contest to confirm their resurrection from the depths of their historic lows earlier this year.
A yellow card to Beauden Barrett on his line and three late tries – two from replacement England prop Will Stuart – completely altered the complexion of this match and, indeed, the turbulent All Blacks season that finishes with eight wins, four losses and one draw 10 months out from next year’s World Cup.
All Blacks first-five Richie Mo'unga looks dejected after the draw. Photo / Photosport
“We’ll certainly be more disappointed than them,” Foster said when asked if the stalemate felt like a defeat. “It was a game of drama. To come away with a 25-all draw is something we’re pretty disappointed with. We got ourselves into a position where we should have been better.
“We played some great rugby and in our mind we should have walked away with a win and we didn’t get it in that last 10.
“I loved the way we played for large parts of that game. Some of the things we’ve made good gains in we’re moving well, but it shows we’re not quite there yet. In some ways that’s not a bad spot to be 10 months out from a pretty big tournament.”
While Foster professed the positives, the black-and-white of this match, in which notorious French referee Mathieu Raynal blew 28 penalties, is the All Blacks crumbled when it mattered most. They had England on the rack. And they will be gutted to let that dominance slip.
All Blacks captain Sam Whitelock reflected the state of disbelief.
“To go from a few points up to all of a sudden start leaking through the middle and around the edge is not nice,” Whitelock said. “The boys were definitely trying but we’ve got to look at why that happened and come up with a few solutions because we didn’t out there.”
Buoyed by their late one-man advantage England’s bench blew their All Blacks counterparts away.
Reflecting on the scarcely-believable finish, when the All Blacks opted to kick the ball away in the dying minutes and England counter-attacked for Stuart’s second try to draw level, Foster largely backed the on-field decision-making but not the execution.
“I don’t think you can wind the clock down nowadays. The breakdown is too heavily officiated. They’re looking hard at people sealing off. If you try and do that for too long you’re going to concede a penalty.
“Ardie [Savea] called for that little kick from TJ [Perenara] but then he realised he was a metre in front so we lost a chaser. That was one of the exits we weren’t as clinical as we needed to be.
“We’ve got a bit to learn about the last 10 minutes and closing out a big test like that. It was a game I felt we should have had better control in the last part. We didn’t. We got a yellow card. So there’s two or three good lessons and probably one we’ll give ourselves an uppercut for.”
Rather attempt to chase victory from the restart, England playmaker Marcus Smith booted the ball out to settle for a draw. The 81,000 crowd, riding a wave of emotion following England’s unfathomable comeback, booed the lack of ambition. Foster expressed surprise, too.
Rieko Ioane celebrates with All Blacks teammate Caleb Clarke. Photo / Photosport
“I know if we flipped it over I would’ve liked our guys to have a crack so I’m not sure what their tactics were. They were running hot for seven, eight minutes and they probably felt getting back to a draw was a massive achievement in that time so they decided to take it.”
When the cameras panned to him during the first half, as the All Blacks compiled a 17-3 halftime lead, England coach Eddie Jones looked rattled. By the finish, though, he was his usual jovial self.
“I can’t recall a New Zealand side playing as well as they did in the first half; aggressive, sharp around the ruck, good attacking kicks. We just had to hang in there,” Jones said.
England celebrate during their comeback. Photo / Photosport
“All of a sudden someone blows some magic dust and the passes start to stick, the lines are sharper, our finishers came on and improved the game we want to play. It’s a really important game that we played with such spirit.”
As for the uninspiring decision to settle for a draw, Jones offered: “It’s always up to the players. I trust their decision-making.”
England captain Owen Farrell, in his 100th test, outlined the decision to not chase victory.
“We just wanted to see where we were at off the ruck. If we got on the front foot and we had an opportunity then we wanted to take it. If not then we wanted to make a good decision,” Farrell said. “That’s what was done.”
