Hosea Gear and Kieran Read touched down in the first 21 minutes as the rampant All Blacks threatened to overwhelm the home side but New Zealand-born hooker Dylan Hartley reduced the deficit after halftime.

England center Shontayne Hape, a New Zealand rugby league international before switching codes and allegiance, thought he had dragged England to within a single score with an 85th-minute try in the corner but it was disallowed on video replay.

Down to 14 men for a yellow card to Jerome Kaino, the southern hemisphere champions held on for a ninth straight win against England.

Errors by a relatively inexperienced home side gave Dan Carter the opportunity to kick three penalties for a final personal tally of 16 points and a first win in a campaign for a Grand Slam over the four home unions.

New Zealand captain Richie McCaw was just relieved to avoid a second straight loss following last weekend's Bledisloe Cup reverse to Australia in Hong Kong.

“The guys were really hurting after last week,” McCaw said. “The way the guys stuck at it, we defended pretty well. We're still guilty of giving too many chances through our own mistakes. When you turn it over, England are good enough to put you under pressure, which they did.

“We got into a bit of an arm wrestle at the end, which is what we didn't want to do.” Gear touched down in the corner in the seventh minute after debut-making former league international Sonny Bill Williams created space and No. 8 Read picked up off the back of a scrum before receiving the ball back to burrow over in the 21st.

Two conversions and a penalty by Carter made it 17-3 at halftime and made sure New Zealand never seriously looked like losing but, with matches against Australia and South Africa still to come, England showed signs of huge improvement on last year's performances against the southern hemisphere giants.

Ben Foden was a threat going forward from fullback, prop Andrew Sheridan solidified the scrum on his return to the side after 20 months out, and the backs usually had several options as they moved the ball at pace on the occasions they did have possession.

“They want to use the ball from turnovers and whatnot and they certainly did that,” McCaw said. “More than in the past, you know that if you give them the ball they'll use it.” But Tri-Nations champion New Zealand was still too good, as illustrated by an opening try worked from a throw on the right.

The ball was almost casually spread left, where Williams drew in the midfield and offloaded one-handed to Kaino.

With the All Blacks queuing to score in the corner, Gear was given the try on TV replay despite a tackle at the flag.

Carter then led a sweeping counter that ended with a five-meter scrum. Read picked up and, after the ball went through a couple of players, collected it again off the floor to burrow over for the try.

“Defensively we were a bit sloppy,” England No. 8 Nick Easter said. “First tackles weren't sticking. We switched off for 10 minutes and you can't afford to do that.” Mils Muliaina was denied a clear run down the left in the second minute only by a debatable in-touch call, and Joe Rokocoko then created huge uncertainty in the home defense by juggling the ball from hand to hand before offloading to McCaw.

England gave away a penalty in halting the All Blacks captain but Carter dragged the ball well wide of the right post with a kick that barely made the tryline.

England's first real sign it would compete came in the 14th minute with a show and go by scrumhalf Ben Youngs, earning a penalty for offside. Easter made a quick break, Foden was forced out for a throw and England probed the All Blacks' line - albeit without coming close to finding an opening.

There was more throwing the ball around and mixing it up near the line on the half-hour mark but New Zealand never looked much like budging until Hape's late disallowed effort. Foden went over from a multiphase move at the end of the first half but could not ground the ball.

England's try came after Flood kicked ahead from a break by Mike Tindall. Although Ashton could not kick an awkwardly bouncing ball on to score himself, he controlled it and England kept it long enough for the charging Hartley to take a pass from Flood and crash into the defensive line.

The replacement hooker was held up just short but reached through a gap while on the ground to score.

The Twickenham crowd was roused but the recovering Ashton still needed to deny Carter a certain try after an hour with a one-handed interception 15 meters out.