England captain Jamie George mirrored on the high quality margins that allowed New Zealand to assert a 16-15 victory of their collection opener in Dunedin.
The vacationers led 15-10 when Marcus Smith conjured a attempt for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso within the forty seventh minute however two penalties from Damian McKenzie saved the All Blacks from an upset at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Smith missed eight factors from the kicking tee, together with one penalty virtually in entrance of the posts, as England fell simply quick on a day when a well-known victory was there for the taking.
“At the beginning I’m very happy with this group. Not lots of groups come to New Zealand and try this and that reveals an enormous quantity of progress on this group,” George instructed Sky Sports activities.
“We wished to make individuals again house very proud and I believe we did that with our effort. It was very high quality margins.
New Zealand
England
“There are positively some areas to take a look at – scrum is one, breakdown might be one other.
“We’ll do lots of trustworthy work this week and ensure we go to Eden Park absolutely ready. We’ll be taught and we’ll develop and we’ll get higher.
“We’ve obtained to be taught quick, which is one thing we delight ourselves on. We’ll be as ready as we probably may be. There will likely be just a few sore our bodies.
“We’ve got to get the our bodies and the minds proper as a result of this can be a actually thrilling week for us.”
England had been saved within the first half by their tenacious defending and having crept forward by way of Feyi-Waboso, they then grew to become locked in a livid tussle for management of the primary Check.
“It was high quality margins, two tries apiece. There wasn’t a lot in that in any respect,” head coach Steve Borthwick mentioned.
“The second half was an actual arm wrestle in the midst of the sector. Neither group obtained into the opposition 22 fairly often. There wasn’t a lot in it.
“Immense credit score to New Zealand for taking their alternatives and getting over the road in the long run. The New Zealand bench was excellent and performed a really sensible second half.”
The All Blacks had been taking part in their first Check since shedding the World Cup last to South Africa in October and skipper Scott Barrett admitted it took time to search out their ft.
“I’m happy with a bunch that got here collectively in 10 days and performed a reasonably sharp England facet,” Barrett mentioned.
“Inside that 80 minutes was little bit of a reminder of what Check match footy is about.
“There have been arm wrestles in all places – set-piece, scrum battle, breakdown. Totally different layers of stress. We tailored fairly effectively to the sport and managed to get again in it and get again in entrance.”
