Tracey Nelson is the stats guru for haka.co.nz and will provide statistical analysis of the All Blacks' matches during their end of year tour.
The All Blacks managed to scrape home 26-16 against a lively England side who probably surprised themselves as much as the spectators with their willingness to run the ball in stark contrast to their usual staid, defence-oriented game.
Unfortunately, this running game came back to bite them in the final
10 minutes when the All Blacks were reduced to 14 men after Jerome Kaino was sin binned for off-side entry to a maul.
England certainly had their chances in the final minutes, with no less than four good attacks on the All Black line - one of which was a three on one overlap - but on each occasion they managed to knock the ball on. This was thanks to some staunch defence by the men in black, who made a massive 141 tackles that played a large part in England's 15 handling errors.
The irony of the All Blacks winning this test match on the back of their defence won't be missed by England's defence strategist Mike Ford, who earlier in the week scoffed at the frothy, try-scoring nature of Tri-Nations test rugby.
Leading by example was Richie McCaw, who managed to make almost twice as many tackles as any other All Black defender, with a staggering 22 tackles. Kieran Read was next best with 13, while the best defenders in the backline were Nonu and Carter with 10 each.
With the scoreline at 14-0 after just 20 minutes it looked as though the All Blacks might run rampant, but turnovers started to count against them. In total New Zealand made 10 handling errors in a total of 21 turnovers, and appeared to have learnt nothing from the loss in Hong Kong with many ill-placed kicks from the back three handing possession back to England.
In a recurring pattern this year, the All Blacks conceded the most penalties with a tally of 15 - five of which were conceded at scrum time. Of the five England scrum feeds in the game, only one didn't result in a penalty against the All Blacks. England conceded just nine penalties overall, all but two coming at the breakdown.
While England seemed to have the upper hand when it came to scrums the one bright spot was the All Blacks' lineout which ran at 100%, while good contesting of England's throws saw them only win 80% of their ball.
Heroes:
You simply can't go past McCaw with his tackle stats and workrate. Not only did he have the second best arrival rate at the breakdown (behind Brad Thorn this week) but he was top equal ball carrier with Kieran Read on nine. Sam Whitelock had a dream debut winning all three of his lineout throws and stealing one from England, while his overall workrate at the breakdown saw him come in third behind Thorn and McCaw. Isaia Toeava gets a mention for his try-saving tackle in the corner.
Villains:
While Joe Rokocoko's workrate was good, he contributed to the All Blacks' turnover stats by making two knock-ons, throwing a howler of a pass over Sonny Bill William's head into touch, and turning possession over in the tackle. Jerome Kaino also deserves a spot here for putting his side under pressure with his yellow card in the 70th minute of the game.
Dan Carter scored 16 points in this test match to take his tally against England to 167.
In depth game stats can be found at Haka.co.nz.