Rugby Outstanding leadership kept us in the fight, says England boss
EDDIE Jones backed Marcus Smith’s decision to settle for a draw after England fought back from 25-6 down with nine minutes left to avoid defeat in stunning fashion against New Zealand at Twickenham.
The hosts looked to be heading for a second Autumn Nations Series loss with tries from Dalton Papali’i, Codie Taylor and Rieko Ioane putting the All Blacks in control and on course for revenge in the first meeting between the teams since the 2019 World Cup semi-final.
When Beauden Barrett kicked a drop goal with 71 minutes on the clock, New Zealand’s advantage
stretched to 19 points but he was sin-binned for an infringement in the build-up to Will Stuart’s first score and Freddie Steward crossed minutes later to set up a grandstand finish.
Replacement Stuart completed the remarkable turnaround when he bundled over for his second on the stroke of full-time. Smith kicked the extras but the England fly-half was booed when instead of going for the win against 14 men, he kicked into touch to settle for a share of the spoils following a thriller.
“It is always up to players mate. I trust their decision-making. I am not on the field. I don’t have access to them. I just trust their decision,” Jones insisted following the 25-25
draw. “We’re disappointed we didn’t win the game but a draw is a draw and the dominance they had in the first half, we could have fallen away.
“You’ve seen better teams than us fall away against the All Blacks and get beat by 40 or 50 points. I have coached teams that have done that. When you get absolutely pulverised by them - like we were in the first half - and you don’t stay in the fight, you can get blown away even more.
“We stayed in the fight, which I think the leadership of the team was outstanding. Owen (Farrell) did a great job in his 100th cap with (Ellis) Genge and Jack Nowell. Then the other significant thing was the support of the crowd.
“The crowd were absolutely fantastic, which definitely lifted the players, so we are grateful to the 81,641 that were there. I don’t know what happened to the other 349!
“They will be kicking themselves but we hope there is 82,000 next week complete because it will be a hell of a game (against South Africa).”
Captain Owen Farrell had to shake off an ankle injury at the end of the first half to soldier on in his 100th Test appearance.
England were second best for much of the contest and had no answer to New Zealand’s slickness in the opening 40 with Papali’i capitalising on Jack van Poortvliet’s intercepted pass and Taylor crashing over inside 10 minutes.