Numbers game shows clear advantage to All Blacks

The All Blacks and England won’t meet till the end of next year to sort out who is the better team, but right now there’s no doubt – Steve Hansen’s outfit has a vastly superior record when matched against Eddie Jones’ side.

The two teams share the world record for consecutive tier one test wins at 18 and England have the chance to claim the mark for their own when they play Ireland in the Six Nations finale this weekend.

Amid the growing hysteria in Britain of England ‘‘expunging’’ the All Blacks from the record books, comes a voice of reason in the form of The Guardian’s Andy Bull.

He’s mounted a mathematical case that proves the All Blacks are a more worthy side: ❚ In their 18-game run, New Zealand scored 751 points, with 104 tries, and conceded just 253. ❚ England have scored 621 points, with 72 tries, and conceded 300. ❚ On average, the All Blacks outscored England, 41.7 to 34.5. ❚ The All Blacks scored more triesper-match – 5.7 to 4. ❚ The All Blacks’ winning margins were vastly superior – 27.6 to 17.8. ❚ The All Blacks played 10 of their 18 games away from home, though seven were at neutral venues during their triumphant 2015 World Cup. ❚ England played 11 of their 18 games at Twickenham. ❚ The All Blacks won eight games against teams who were ranked in the world’s top four at the time. To emphasise their superiority, they beat their opponents by at least 25 points in five of those heavyweight games. ❚ England’s record run includes five wins against teams ranked in the top four, though none by the sort of margins the All Blacks posted.

And so, the final words from The Guardian’s Mr Bull: ‘‘Add it all up, and you arrive at the answer most people would have come to without doing the work: New Zealand’s run was even better than England’s has been.’’