New Zealand 44 - 12 England

21^st June 2008

Match Review 

England went into this second test against New Zealand with many points to prove from last weekend.  The defence for a start had been strengthened in order not to leak easy tries.  However, within the first ten minutes Jamie Noon missed a tackle and in went Richard Kahui for the first try of the night for the ‘All Blacks'. 

England tonight were beaten by a world class team with flair, speed, style and commitment.  The only thing that you could say the New Zealand team needs to work on perhaps is their line outs.

As to England in both the first and second half they had their chances.  In the first half Varndell and Tait both missing tries that they really should have had however, Varndell did make amends in the second half but the player I was most pleased with was Danny Care, what a find this guy is.  From a five metre scrum, New Zealand were penalized Care tapped quickly and stormed over for England's first try. 

Danny Care 

A number of substitutions throughout the match in particular Flood (injured) off and Barkley on thought he had a bit of mixed game.  He missed a sitter in front of the posts plus a couple of conversions, having said that he states he has not been practicing the fly half role so......what could we expect of him?

England ran in at half time without a point on the board, New Zealand having stamped their authority on the match Half Time:  New Zealand 20 -0 England

England overall are a mess, too many mistakes, turnovers, ill-discipline by some and second rate internationally.   Today we had flashes of brilliance but only rarely and really it was hard to see them overpowering the ‘All Blacks' at times they could not even live with their speed.

I am not too depressed though because many of the England players are really young guys and they will no doubt work together and build for the next Rugby World Cup. I hope some of them also gain a bit more muscle as one or two looked a bit on the lean side today.   Even Tindall who was binned in the second half was easily upended and dumped and he is a pretty stocky guy.

Will Martin Johnson keep this squad as it is, I think not somehow.   Some players will most definitely not feature due to age and I believe discipline will have much more focus both on and off the field when Johnno takes over.  

Positives from the match  one or two moments of good ball play but keeping the ball needs working on, our lineout looked solid and we did managed to mess up the  New Zealand lineout regularly.  Thought Tait worked his socks off and I hope his cheekbone is not broken during that nasty collision in the second half (we wish him well). 

New Zealand (20) 44
Tries: Kahui, Carter, Nonu, Lauaki, Cowan Cons: Carter 4, Donald Pens: Carter 3

England (0) 12
Tries: Care, Varndell Cons: Barkley

New Zealand: MacDonald, Sivivatu, Kahui, Nonu, Wulf, Carter, Ellis, So'oialo, McCaw, Thomson, Williams, Thorn, Somerville, Hore, Tialata.

Replacements: Muliaina for Kahui (73), Donald for Carter (74), Cowan for Ellis (68), Lauaki for McCaw (27), Boric for Williams (15), Mealamu for Hore (65), Woodcock for Tialata (40).

England: Tait, Ojo, Tindall, Noon, Varndell, Flood, Care, Narraway, Rees, Haskell, Borthwick, Palmer, Stevens, Mears, Payne.

Replacements: Barkley for Flood (29), Kay for Palmer (68), Hobson for Stevens (72), Worsley for Narraway (57), Croft for Rees (57), Richards for Tait (73), Paice for Mears (74).

Sin Bin: Tindall (61).

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