Jones praises England’s strong finish

England coach Eddie Jones insisted his side had “finished the stronger” after an agonising 1615 loss to world champions New Zealand at a rainswept Twickenham on Saturday.

England surged into a 15-0 lead in the first half following tries from right wing Chris Ashton and New Zealand-born hooker Dylan Hartley.

But the All Blacks fought back by scoring 16 unanswered points, with full-back Damian McKenzie’s 39th-minute try supplemented by Beauden Barrett’s conversion, and two penalties either side of a dropgoal – the flyhalf’s first in 71 Test matches.

Yet England, missing 17 players through injury and suspension, thought they had won the match with four minutes left when impressive openside flanker Sam Underhill crossed for a try after Courtney Lawes had charged down New Zealand replacement scrumhalf TJ Perenara’s kick.

But experienced French referee Jerome Garces, after consulting the television match official, ruled Lawes had been offside and disallowed the score, effectively ending England’s bid for just an eighth win in 41 Tests against the All Blacks.

Nevertheless, with the 2019 World Cup in Japan on the horizon, Jones said: “I thought we played the final 20 [minutes] exceptionally well . We’ll take enormous confidence from that.”

His side had launched their November campaign with an unconvincing 12-11 win at home to SA last weekend.

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen praised Garces for being “brave enough” to ignore the roars of the crowd.

“There was no doubt he [Lawes was] offside.

“What was going through my mind was, are they [the officials] going to be brave enough to make the right decision? And they were. It’s good.”

England’s next match is against Japan at Twickenham.

Jones guided Japan to an upset win over SA at the 2015 World Cup in England.