New Zealand 37
England 20
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There is nothing like stuffing the Poms to put a spring back in the step. All week, England talked themselves up while offering plenty of opinion on where New Zealand rugby was going wrong and then, wham - they hit an All Black side that rammed reality pills
down their throats.
No side has ever talked their way to victory in New Zealand. When it came down it, England couldn't match the relentless physicality of the All Blacks at the breakdown. They couldn't handle the power of the All Black scrum and if you don't bring a backline out here, you're stuffed.
What England quite clearly forgot is that rugby is in this blood of this nation. That blokes out here have to be able to play to get a game and if all you have, as England seemingly do, is some big lugs in the forwards and some non-tackling extras in the backs, then you get torn to shreds.
What gets played down here is rugby - a game many have forgotten the All Blacks happen to be quite good at. And they are rather good at it because they have players who showed last night that they can do the nasty stuff and the frilly stuff and fuse the two into a compelling package.
The rest of the world can talk of an All Black crisis but Daniel Carter looked like a player without a care in the world last night.
He was iffy in Wellington but commanding in Auckland, with his running game restored to full health. Then there was Richie McCaw, of course, imposing, focussed and inspiring.
There were solid performances everywhere. Big Brad Thorn looked like he wanted to hurt people, Andy Ellis didn't skip a beat and Conrad Smith is beginning to feel like a solution to a longstanding problem.
He was sharp, clever and organised. It's been a promising start for Smith but his case to be the permanent All Black centre can only be fully assessed when Australia and South Africa roll into town.
The England midfield had all the grunt of a hairdryer. If Olly Barkley and Mike Tindall is their best midfield combination, then these guys are in real bother.
When Ma'a Nonu came charging up the guts early in the second half, Barkley and first five Charlie Hodgson didn't want to know. The white gloves came on and Nonu was waved through before veering left to throw a perfect pass to Mils Muliaina.
And there you had it - the perfect illustration of the gulf in class between these two sides.
Where New Zealand were incisive, powerful and accurate in the backs, England were just awful.
Even in the forwards, England could compete only in patches.
They had spurts of effective counter-rucking, were handy at the lineout and being the size they are, they took a lot of tackling when they carried the ball.
But where they were never in it was in their ability to move the point of contact the way the All Blacks did, to pass out of the tackle and to create and exploit the space.
The multi-phase, high-skill football might not work at World Cups but it works in between times and it worked last night.
England were blown away by the pace of the game. Every time they made a tackle, there was a black shirt waiting to take the ball on.
And so it went until there were gaping holes all over the place. Sometimes it didn't even take that much effort to carve open the English.
Carter's first half try came when Sitiveni Sivivatu wandered off his wing to collect a pass direct from a scrum, twisted out of a tackle and popped the ball to the first five who could scarcely believe there were no white shirts between him and the tryline.
The All Blacks, despite their superiority, despite their passages of compelling rugby, will be looking for more polish this week.
They lost some potency and fluidity once the bench came on and they know that some careless errors at critical times caused them to leave at least two tries out on the field.
But it wasn't a night for coming down hard on the All Blacks. They played well and, really, they hammered England.
And no matter the venue or timing, it always feels good to take the England bubble which wraps their self-importance and delusional conviction they are any good and pop it with venomous glee.