Sport

The differences

AGAINST NEW ZEALAND England mustered a mere two penalties, both in the first half, and were unable to respond in any way when…

Mon Nov 23 2009 - 00:00

AGAINST NEW ZEALAND England mustered a mere two penalties, both in the first half, and were unable to respond in any way when New Zealand raised the tempo in the third quarter.

New Zealand changed their game at the start of the second half. Having moved the ball wide before the break, they opted for the single pass and the drive through the middle or down the blindside, where they looked to expose Matt Banahan’s defence, and it was in the Bath wing’s channel that they scored their try.

England, in contrast, manage a gear-change only when they swap white jerseys for puce.

“We have to look at our fitness in terms of coming out of the blocks after half-time,” said secondrow Simon Shaw. “We gave it our all and restored some pride. A lot came out of the performance . . . but we knew that New Zealand traditionally look to dominate in the third quarter and it was then that they went away from us.”

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While England passed and kicked virtually an equal amount in each half, New Zealand made twice as many passes in the first half as they did after the break.

“We put New Zealand under pressure, particularly in the first half, but we could not finish moves off,” said flanker James Haskell. “People who said in the week that we were in dire straits were talking rubbish. We have the players and the ability and we have to keep hacking away at it. When we get injured players back, we should quickly get on to a roll.”

Another difference was at outhalf. England went for a boshing midfield, unwilling to kick too often to a back three dangerous on the counter. Jonny Wilkinson stood deep and, while his match statistics are identical to Dan Carter’s in two respects, they both kicked or chipped 10 times and gave 10 passes, Carter, adopting a flatter position, made seven breaks to Wilkinson’s one.

“We showed how tight a group we are and, when you have that you can go far,” said England captain Steve Borthwick. “We can be proud of our efforts, but we lost the game because we were not good enough. We have come a long way in a year under Martin Johnson and we’ll continue to get better.”