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.
