All Blacks 19
England 33
By Liam Napier at Twickenham
London’s autumn night sky cast a dark shade over the complexion of the All Blacks’ season as their Grand Slam hopes came to a shuddering halt at Twickenham.
England broke their five-year drought – and recorded their first home win against the All Blacks since 2012 – with a commanding victory that confirms their improving pedigree.
After late great escapes against Ireland in Chicago and Scotland at Murrayfield where individual brilliance saved the All Blacks, Scott Robertson’s men ran out of puff and get-out-of-jail cards.
This time, their inconsistencies bit hard.
The quest for a first Grand Slam in 15 years was within the All Blacks’ grasp as they compiled a 12-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes but, from then on, they were second best to concede 25 unanswered points and again leave themselves chasing the game.
At Twickenham, of all venues, where the vast majority of the vocal 81,953 crowd are baying for blood, that’s an incredibly difficult task.
By the finish, as the English savoured their 10th straight win, swing low was in full voice.
England’s second-largest win and second-most points against the All Blacks gave the locals every reason to rejoice.
While the All Blacks’ lineout pressured England, they increasingly struggled to apply pressure elsewhere - and eventually lost all shape. Their static attack in particular seemed bereft of ideas.
In the closing stages, with starting halves Beauden Barrett and Cam Roigard departing early in the second half, the All Blacks unravelled.
They will rue their lack of accuracy, with handling errors at crucial times, missing touch from penalties in the first half and Codie Taylor’s harsh yellow card compounding frustrations.
History repeated for the All Blacks with a second successive poor start to the second half.
They have struggled with third-quarter fades this year.
Just like last week at Murrayfield, where they conceded three yellow cards to collapse in that period against Scotland, another costly card, this time to Taylor for a cynical hand in the ruck, gifted England the platform to gain the lead for the first time.
From there, England largely kept their foot on the All Blacks’ throat.
Even Ben Earl’s yellow card didn’t thwart England’s charge.
Riding their one-man advantage early in the second spell England had a try ruled out for an offside at the lineout, but soon afterwards Sam Underhill could not be denied. When Fraser Dingwall waltzed through not long after, England were in complete control.
There wasn’t solely a Grand Slam on the line for the All Blacks at Twickenham.
A third loss from 12 tests colours the complexion of Robertson’s second season at the helm.
The Bledisloe Cup is the only notable trophy in the cabinet after failing to win the Rugby Championship, suffering the heaviest defeat in history to the Springboks in Wellington, and their first loss in Argentina.
Defeat, and the nature of it, ramps up pressure on underwhelming Robertson’s reign.
From the coaching staff to accuracy and tactics, vast improvements are clearly required.
The All Blacks, already missing starters Jordie Barrett, Tupou Vaa’i, Tyrel Lomax, Caleb Clarke and the experienced Patrick Tuipulotu through injury, were dealt a blow before kickoff after losing a third lock, Fabian Holland, due to illness. Josh Lord started in Holland’s absence, with Sam Darry coming onto the bench.
The opening quarter was a lesson in finishing. The All Blacks seized their chances, England squandered theirs.
England signalled their intent by meeting the haka with a V-shaped formation – similar to their last win over the All Blacks at the 2019 World Cup semifinal.
The hosts rode that emotion to savour all the early momentum but a botched Underhill offload, two wasteful kicks inside the red zone and scrambling All Blacks defence left England unable to convert pressure into points.
After weathering England’s initial onslaught, the All Blacks counterpunched. Ardie Savea nabbed a breakdown penalty and Scott Barrett pinched one of three first-half steals from England’s lineout to lay the platform for Leicester Faingaʻanuku to celebrate his first appearance at Twickenham with the opening try.
Roigard’s kicking from the base proved a lifeline at times for the All Blacks. His 50-22 put them in position for Beauden Barrett to send Will Jordan on the outside break from a well-executed scrum set move. When they swung back to the opposite corner, Taylor pushed the All Blacks out to lead 12-0.
Issues under the high ball continued for the All Blacks, though, allowing England to consistently edge their way downfield. The All Blacks held up England lock Alex Coles, but Leroy Carter couldn’t stop Ollie Lawrence.
Compounding unforced errors proved costly for the All Blacks with Beauden Barrett and Roigard missing touch from penalties.
When the All Blacks could have pulled further ahead, those mistakes instead paved the way for George Ford to slot two drop goals and leave the contest there for the taking.
While Barrett struggled, Ford and England grabbed the game by the scruff in the second half to hand the All Blacks a humbling reality check.
With Wales to finish their year in Cardiff next week, the All Blacks have plenty to ponder.
All Blacks 19 (Leicester Faingaʻanuku, Codie Taylor, Will Jordan tries; Beauden Barrett con, Damian McKenzie con)
England 33 (Ollie Lawrence, Sam Underhill, Fraser Dingwall, Tom Roebuck tries; George Ford 2 cons, pen, 2 drop goals)
HT: 12-11
Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.