England suffered another agonising close Test defeat by New Zealand at Eden Park to lose a thrilling summer series 2-0 following an inspiring cameo from Beauden Barrett.
Steve Borthwick’s spirited tourists delivered another excellent display in an absorbing contest to seriously threaten the All Blacks’ incredible unbeaten run at their Auckland fortress, which has stood now for 30 years.
Marcus Smith’s brilliant kicking and vision teed up converted tries for both wings Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman to hit back emphatically after Mark Tele’a’s early effort for the hosts, who also got two first-half penalties from the boot of Damian McKenzie.
Northampton wing Freeman’s sublime catch and score on the stroke of half-time gave England a narrow 14-13 lead at the interval, having lost a thrilling First Test 16-15 at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium last weekend.
Hope of only a third-ever England win over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil and first since 2003 further increased after the break thanks to another penalty from Smith, who nailed all of his three kicks from the tee on Saturday after a costly off-day with the boot in the First Test.
England dominated the opening to the second half, with the All Blacks camped inside their own half for long stretches but ultimately standing firm in another game of razor-thin margins amid some costly inaccuracy from their visitors as they failed to capitalise on their territory.
It was an uncharacteristically scrappy and error-strewn performance from New Zealand at times, particularly at the lineout, in only their second game of 2024 and second under the guidance of new head coach Scott Robertson, until Tele’a’s second try with just under 20 minutes to play following a fabulous break by star replacement Beauden Barrett - whose surprise dropping was a major talking point from Robertson’s first team selection in Dunedin - pushed them a point ahead with McKenzie missing the conversion.
However, the All Blacks fly-half went on to slot over two more penalties during an impressive finish to extend the lead to four and then seven points, giving him 14 in total, with England undeterred and pushing for a draw during a dramatic finish.
A last-ditch driving maul went down - legally, according to the officials - and Jamie George was then held up over the line by Beauden Barrett, with the officials eventually calling obstruction - much to the frustration of the England captain, who had pushed on to the line behind Ollie Lawrence.
New Zealand ultimately held on after another close shave to stretch their remarkable undefeated streak at Eden Park to a staggering 49 matches, a truly formidable run that includes 47 victories and only two draws.
They have not lost at their spiritual home since all the way back in July 1994, before many of their current crop were even born, and even that took one of the most famous scores in rugby history to achieve - the so-called ‘try from the end of the world’ notched late by legendary France full-back Jean-Luc Sadourny.
Despite two heartbreaking defeats in close games in which they were at least level at half-time in both and led each midway through the second half, there are plenty of plaudits to take for England following the end of a long and gruelling season, having kicked off this three-leg summer tour with an eight-try, 52-17 thrashing of Eddie Jones’ inexperienced Japan team in Tokyo last month.
Though there certainly remain issues to work on, their continued progress under Borthwick is clear since last summer’s nadir, with their shock run to the World Cup semi-finals in the autumn followed by a mostly improved Six Nations showing earlier this year.
England can hold their heads up high after two agonising near-misses
They will meet New Zealand again to kick off the autumn international series in November, this time at Twickenham ahead of further visits from Australia, reigning world champions South Africa and Jones’ Japan.
Losing that long Eden Park streak in only his second game would have been a torrid start to Robertson’s transitional All Blacks era that has seen him deprived of many experienced generals who have now retired, but they squeezed home again in the end to kick off his reign with back-to-back victories in their first matches since losing the World Cup final to the Springboks by a single point in October.
However, he will be seeking huge improvement ahead of this summer’s Rugby Championship, in which they will be seeking a fifth straight title and eighth in the last nine years.
That gets underway against Argentina in Wellington on August 10, but first up for New Zealand it’s a trip to San Diego to play Fiji next weekend.
