England win over New Zealand delights Stuart Lancaster

Head coach Stuart Lancaster said England's victory over New Zealand was an "unbelievable achievement".

New Zealand were undefeated in their previous 20 matches and had beaten England in their last nine games.

Record-breaking England win

  • England's previous biggest win over New Zealand was 13-0 at Twickenham in January, 1936
  • England's previous highest score against New Zealand was the 31 points they scored in a 31-28 victory at Twickenham in November, 2002
  • Only once in 498 Tests had New Zealand been beaten by a bigger margin - 28-7
  • England's last victory over New Zealand was 15-13 in Wellington in June, 2003.
  • New Zealand had not lost a Test to European opposition on an autumn tour since the 31-28 defeat to England in November, 2002

Three tries in 10 second-half minutes fired England to a record-breaking 38-21 victory over the world champions.

"The performance was exactly what we wanted. I'm chuffed for the players," said Lancaster after England's biggest win over the All Blacks.

"That team belief with a young England side definitely augurs well for the future.

"At 15-14 we came back with three tries of our own. We've tried to instil a no-fear mentality in the players and to make them have the courage of their convictions.

"To build a 15-point lead was very pleasing. The All Blacks came back strong but our energy and our fight for the shirt was outstanding. That's what got us across the line.

"Our defence was outstanding. We forced the All Blacks into errors and not many sides do that."

England had lost their last two internationals of the autumn series and had been given little hope of beating the All Blacks, making the win all the more rewarding for Lancaster.

Stuart Lancaster ecstatic after England beat New Zealand

"We didn't quite get across the line with Australia and South Africa but to get across the line with New Zealand with a young team with 206 caps in the starting XV is an unbelievable achievement," he said.

"The win gives the players belief in the direction we are going and the rugby public a sense that this journey is the right one.

"We want to win here and now but we want to build a team for the future and we have lads like Joe Launchbury, Jon Joseph and Owen Farrell and Freddie Burns who are 21, 22 and 23 years old.

"They should be playing for England for years and we should be sat here in 10 years time and still have the same group of lads with 800 caps in our starting XV."

England captain Chris Robshaw, only the sixth captain to lead England to a victory over New Zealand, said: "You can talk about a good performance but today we had to go out there and deliver.

Match analysis

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"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.

"I think I have been to every England game at Twickenham since I was 14. This was by far the best 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."

"We were disappointed not to get the results earlier. It was the best possible response, to beat the current world champions and score the tries we did was something in itself.

"Everyone delivered. Everyone rose to the occasion and proved a few people wrong. All week we were quietly confident.

"No one had given us a chance. People were saying 'what are New Zealand going to beat them by?' But we were confident in our abilities."

Winger Chris Ashton , who scored the second try, told BBC Sport: "I think this day has been coming. We had to make something of it and start building on this journey we keep talking of.

"It was a good, outstanding team performance. We know where we're heading and believe in it. We just needed a game like today to reinforce that belief and instil confidence in each other. New Zealand are still the best team in the world and that's where we want to be."