England 38-21 New Zealand

 

England pulled off one of the great victories in their history as they destroyed world champions New Zealand at a rejoicing Twickenham.

The All Blacks had been unbeaten in 20 matches but were completely outplayed as second-half tries from Brad Barritt, Chris Ashton and Manu Tuilagi snuffed out a brief comeback.

Three penalties and a drop-goal from Owen Farrell gave England a 15-0 lead after 42 minutes, only for tries from Julian Savea and Kieran Read to make it 15-14.

But there was no denying a hugely impressive England, who secured their first win over the All Blacks in nine years - only their seventh in history.

Stuart Lancaster's men were superior in every department; their scrum excellent, their breakdown immense and their defence relentless.

Image of Matt Dawson Matt Dawson Former England rugby international

"I can see this being maybe the greatest England victory, ever, at Twickenham. Nothing is springing to mind where they have annihilated the world's best team as they have today.

"England harried, hounded and were just relentless. They said to New Zealand 'we will tackle you wherever you go and then we'll pinch the ball and see if we can live off scraps'. New Zealand cracked.

"I think I have been to every single England game at Twickenham since I was 14. This was by far the best game I've seen. It's the best performance by an England side considering the opposition and considering what this team has been through, particularly over the last two weeks. Absolutely magnificent - it was an absolutely astonishing performance to win by 17 points."

A late try from Savea was barely a consolation for the visitors, the final margin of 17 points a new record for the men in white.

New Zealand's squad had been hit by a debilitating virus during the week but there was nothing fortuitous about this win, achieved by an inexperienced team who began with just 206 caps between them to the world champions' 788.

England began brightly, showing attacking intent early on without looking like converting it into points.

New Zealand, by contrast, were uncharacteristically muted. Dan Carter missed a kickable penalty and the All Blacks were then penalised for holding on in the England half.

The Twickenham crowd were roaring their side on as England went wide at pace, only for Ashton to spill the ball. When Farrell stroked over his first penalty for a 3-0 lead after 25 minutes it was entirely deserved.

Carter missed a second straightforward penalty, a mistake symptomatic of an error-strewn All Blacks half-hour.

Farrell made it 6-0 from distance when Israel Dagg was snagged by skipper Chris Robshaw and it took a grasping tackle from Carter to haul down Tuilagi as he looked to escape down the left touchline.

New Zealand were barely recognisable from the team who have steamrollered all-comers since their World Cup win a year ago. Farrell extended the lead with a neat drop-goal, and took it to 12-0 at half-time with his third penalty after another All Black infringement.

England, beaten 16-15 by South Africa and 20-14 by Australia in recent weeks, were remorseless as the second period began.

Ben Morgan made a mess of the Kiwi catch at the restart; the subsequent scrum producing an England penalty. To deafening cheers from the crowd, Farrell slid home the kick from out wide for 15-0.

The All Blacks hit back hard. Forward pressure created space for Dagg to put winger Savea in at the corner, and Carter's touchline conversion closed the gap to eight points.

Moments later Alex Goode gathered Ma'a Nonu's kick-through, only for Farrell to miss touch with his clearing kick and set up another rampaging series of New Zealand attacks.

Conrad Smith found space out wide, wriggled from a tackle and found Cory Jane - and this time it was number eight Read who powered over.

Carter's conversion made it 15-14, and all of England's fine work seemed in danger.

Barritt had other ideas. His centre partnership with Tuilagi has been criticised for its lack of creativity, but fast feet and quick hands opened out vast space on the left. An interchange of passes gave Barritt the hole to smash over, with Farrell's conversion bouncing off the crossbar.

Quick ball off the top of the line-out from the impressive Geoff Parling allowed Ben Youngs to find Tuilagi at pace, and the centre thundered through two feeble arms, drew the full-back and sent a celebrating Ashton away for 24-14.

Twickenham had barely finished celebrating when Tuilagi struck again, intercepting Read's poor pass to Carter and strolling across the line in an atmosphere of disbelief.

Farrell nailed the conversion, and when he was replaced by debutant Freddie Burns, the Gloucester youngster popped over a penalty for 35-14.

Replacement Mako Vunipola was yellow-carded with six minutes left, creating a numerical supremacy that Savea took advantage of for his second try.

But Burns added his second penalty and a famous scalp was in the bag.

Team line-ups

England: Goode; Ashton, Tuilagi, Barritt, Brown; Farrell, B Youngs; Corbisiero, T Youngs, Cole, Launchbury, Parling, Wood, Robshaw, Morgan.

Replacements: Joseph for Tuilagi (66), Burns for Farrell (64), Care for B Youngs (68), Vunipola for Corbisiero (66), Paice for T Youngs (72), Wilson for Cole (72), Lawes for Launchbury (66), Haskell for Morgan (57).

Sin Bin: Vunipola (74).

New Zealand: Dagg; Jane, C Smith, Nonu, Savea; Carter, A Smith; Woodcock, Mealamu, O Franks, Retallick, S Whitelock, Messam, McCaw, Read.

Replacements: B Smith for Dagg (71), Cruden for Carter (64), Weepu for A Smith (64), Crockett for Woodcock (66), Coles for Mealamu (62), Faumuina for O Franks (52), Romano for Retallick (48), Vito for Messam (63).

Att: 82,000

Ref: George Clancey (RFU).