England 6 All Blacks 19
Another win for the All Blacks and another game to fear the finer skills of rugby are being sacrificed on the altar of brutality.
It wasn't that England and New Zealand didn't try to play some football - they both did - it was just there were too many collisions,
too many big men getting in the way of the contest.
The obsession with the collision was taken to extremes at Twickenham. If ever there was a bash them and bash them again test, this was it. The physicality was, in a way, compelling to watch. England are an awesomely powerful team. They hit the cleanout with a lot of venom and were able to disrupt and slow the All Blacks' supply of possession.
They were also able to give the All Black scrum a hard time and keep the pressure on purely through their muscularity.
The enormity of the challenge facing the All Blacks became apparent as the teams lined up for the national anthems. That's when it was possible to see just how big this English team is. They don't do small.
There were giants everywhere. Simon Shaw just about cast a shadow over the whole ground. The two props were definitely old school as they went for miles across the shoulders and didn't thin at the waist. There were even freakishly large men in the backs. Surely there must have been some mistake for Matt Banahan to have taken a place on the wing - he was taller and heavier than Brad Thorn. And there was Ayoola Erinle in the midfield - well it would be more accurate to say he was the midfield.
There wasn't much subtlety to it - England were out for a scrap. A Good old-fashioned dukes up, lets see what you have sort of scrap.
It took 40 minutes of hammering into a white wall for the All Blacks to realise they had to re-think their plans.
They didn't do enough to commit the English defence to the breakdown. Instead, England were able to fan across the field and there was no space for anyone to breathe. The ball coming back for the All Blacks was static and the pressure piled on Dan Carter to magic something.
And that was a problem because the first five was strangely off his game. He didn't have his usual air of composure and that was evident when he missed a simple kick for goal late in the first half. It was very unlike Carter - 30 metres out, straight in front and he pushed it.
There was also a penalty to touch just after half time where he kicked it dead from inside his own half. It was maybe the pressure he was putting on himself to outplay Jonny Wilkinson - or it was maybe the fact that he's actually human after all. Even Carter can have an off day.
Still, his off days are better than many people's good days and he was able to do enough to steer his side to most of the right places and attack most of the right holes.
The key hole that was attacked was the one Jimmy Cowan found mid-way through the second half to score the only try of the game. That put the All Blacks 16-9 ahead and provided the safety buffer they were after.
There was never any sense that England had it in them to score a try, but the All Blacks couldn't be complacent about that. They had to scramble in defence and clearly, having not conceded a try on their Grand Slam tour last year and having kept their line in tact so far on this tour, their passion to continue that run was obvious.
Carter made a critical tackle on James Haskell after the No 8 had stripped the ball out of an All Black rolling maul and was on his way to the chalk.
That effort from Carter was typical of the energy the All Blacks had on defence and they needed to subdue a side that, despite coming into this test low on confidence, played with a lot of belief.
The frustrations the All Blacks have felt all tour about not quite being able to cut loose will still be with them. There were flashes - a neat cross kick to Zac Guildford from Carter and some sharp passing in the first half to put Mils Muliaina away at the corner - but not sustained excellence.
Maybe that will come in France. But until then, these All Blacks will be sore and bruised.
