THE TRY THAT NEVER WAS
England robbed of historic win over All Blacks as this Underhill score ruled out by referee
Reports and pictures PLUS Sir Clive Woodward’s exclusive verdict
THAT was a wonderful, compelling Test match that had me on edge from start to finish and one of the best England performances in a long while. But it was a Test they should have won.
First, t hey l et t hat precious 15-point lead slip away but even then, showing great courage and conviction despite being outplayed for most of the second half, they worked themselves into a position to pop over the winning drop goal — and blew it.
Owen Farrell, who had gladdened my heart in the first half with only his third dropped goal in Test rugby, was in position and so was George Ford. It was all there for the taking but England were not all on t he s a me page. The forwards were hammering away, but not in a controlled way with a drop goal in mind. They were just trying to make hard yards.
And then, with the conditions as bad as ever, Courtney Lawes, who otherwise enjoyed a massive match for England, flung it wide to the right and the ball bounced into touch. That, in many ways, was the game right there — forget Sam Underhill’s brilliant but, alas, disallowed try.
I confidently predict that two or three of the big knockout matches in Japan next year will be won by a drop kick and England have to get the routine at the death sorted. A call needs to go out and the scrum half needs to direct it like a policeman, just like Matt Dawson did when we implemented our zigzag play in 2003.
I thought the Underhill try was a 50-50 call — how well did he take it, by the way, running Beauden Barrett ragged? — but the thing about such calls is that they can go against you. The ref can’t disallow a drop goal, given the technology we have! That is the biggest lesson to learn from this game. I’m also trying to get my head around why Dylan Hartley was subbed after a superb opening 40 minutes in which the England line out had been rock solid. He was enjoying his best England game since their record-breaking run. After the break, England lost five line outs and that is not all down to Jamie George. New Zeal and and Brodie Retallick decided to start attacking the England throw but, equally, the home side fatally lost that rhythm that had been serving them so well. Don’t try and fix what isn’t broken. And there is another element to that call. As the No 10 and goalkicker, Farrell has enough on his plate. I’m just not sure about him captaining when he plays fly half. Inside centre, yes — fly half, I worry. He got a bit ragged by his own standards in the second half.
These are issues to address but none of them detract from a performance which all concerned can be proud of. The crowd acknowledged that despite their disappointment and I feel certain now that England are at the start of a very strong bounce back after a tough year or so.
For the first 38 minutes of the first half, England were beyond praise — the best we have seen in many years — but it was disappointing to see them lose concentration in those final two minutes.
The line speed in defence had been brilliant up until that point but they let Ryan Crotty make too many easy yards in the build-up to Damian McKenzie’s try and were on the back foot after that. Then Farrell, of all people, pumped the ball directly into touch from the restart with seconds left, which allowed New Zealand to establish another strong position from which they won a penalty. I’m pretty sure he was trying to kick long and high to give the All Blacks little or no chance of counter-attacking, but it was a costly mistake.
Until that moment he had been pitch-perfect, with England defying conditions to play wonderfully crisp, precise rugby. It was so encouraging to watch and proved New Zealand are not supermen. They can make mistakes like anybody else, if pressurised.
The conditions were awful, the rain was so heavy, but the quality was there from the start and the England defence immense. All kudos to defence coach John Mitchell for that.
Everybody was on point. Underhill was picked to tackle anything that moved and he did that to
perfection. Rarely will New Zealand have a tackling machine like that in their faces. Ten tackles —most of them monsters — in the first half alone.
Itoje bossed the line-out and his discipline was much better, too. Ben Youngs was mixing it up beautifully, it was such intelligent rugby and a joy to watch.
England looked confident as well — the way they moved it swiftly from deep in their own 22 to create a better kicking opportunity for Henry Slade spoke of a team with huge belief in their own ability.
Chris Ashton scored after only two minutes — of course he did — and that lineout rumble from England to send Hartley charging over was textbook.
It worked right from the slight delay after catching the ball, the set to get everybody in the right position and then the perfect timing of Ashton and Farrell and other backs joining the fray to add momentum. Yet despite all that, England went down the tunnel at half time only five points up. New Zealand would have undoubtedly been the happier team at half time.
They won the second half 6- 0, which doesn’t sound much but they took control and, make no mistake, this was huge for them. Put it this way, a defeat yesterday would have knocked them back after losing to South Africa and then scraping home in a second game against the Boks. New Zealand are well and truly back on track now.