All Blacks ease to victory against dogged England

Getty Images ©

The All Blacks have kept up their recent winning record at Twickenham with a strong second half performance and a 19-6 win over England.

The teams went in tied at half-time courtesy of penalties from two of the most prolific kickers in international rugby, Johnny Wilkinson and Daniel Carter.

But once more the All Blacks stepped up their performance in the second half and a brilliant try from Jimmy Cowan sealed the win and made sure the Hillary Shield stays in the NZRU trophy room for at least another year.

The game was played in a more positive fashion than last week's test in Milan as England actually tried to get the ball wide on occasion.

But a magnificent defensive performance has once again provided the platform for the All Blacks to win for the fifth straight test since losing to South Africa in Hamilton.

The game started with a hiss and a roar as Sitiveni Sivivatu was taken high from the kick-off but Carter managed to clear the danger.

England suffered a blow after just two minutes when openside flanker Joe Worsley was forced from the field with a knee injury but the game settled into the expected battle.

The All Blacks started to spread the ball and attack England wide as the expected rain started falling at Twickenham, but halfback Cowan twice looked a little ponderous at the breakdown and the ball was turned over.

The capacity crowd then thought Ugo Monye had given the home side a dramatic lead, but South African referee Jonathan Kaplan correctly picked up a knock-on from the winger.

But England's best passage of play was capped when Wilkinson gave them the lead after Richie McCaw was pinged for not rolling away at the breakdown.

The All Blacks hit back with some fantastic handling to send Mils Muliaina free on the left wing, but a last gasp tackle tackle from Monye pushed the fullback into touch just as Muliaina grounded it.

Carter then surpassed Andrew Mehrtens as the All Blacks' top scorer when he brought up his 969th point after a couple of punches from prop Tim Payne were picked up.

But England regained the lead with the next passage of play when Cowan was penalised deep in his own half for some silly off the ball stuff.

The scrums were a huge focus against Italy last week but referee Kaplan was more decisive with his calls and free-kicks were common at the scrum.

And it was from another short-arm penalty that the All Blacks drew level. A quick tap was taken by Cowan but James Haskell spoiled the breakdown ball and Carter converted the straight arm.

England loose-head Payne then conceded a penalty for not binding correctly at another scrum, but Carter somehow pushed his penalty wide.

As half-time neared the visitors had 15 phases of play in England territory but struggled to break a strong defensive line and they went nowhere.

And England's moral victory was complete when the All Blacks looked like they had ran out of ideas and Carter was forced into a kick which was easily defended by fullback Mark Cueto.

The All Blacks had an early opportunity in the second half after England's Simon Shaw made a mess of taking the restart, but when Cowan was blindsided again the chance was lost.

With England content to kick for territory the All Blacks were forced to try and play from deep.

Carter's third penalty did give the All Blacks the lead, but too many mistakes from the visitors meant the English were getting plenty of ball.

But with England standing off a little at the breakdown New Zealand finally took advantage to score a brilliant first try.

The ball was rumbled deep into the twenty-two and with only Sivivatu on the blind it didn't look too dangerous but the winger managed to take a couple of men out of the play and drop a great inside pass to McCaw.

Cowan had completed the wrap around and McCaw's pass found the halfback in space and he had an easy run to the line. Carter converted.

Wilkinson went for a drop-goal on a rare England visit to New Zealand's twenty-two but it went wide and the hosts suddenly looked like they were struggling.

A brilliant run from Muliaina then put the All Blacks back on the front foot and only some cynical killing of the ball right in front of the posts stopped the visitors scoring a second try.

Carter converted the penalty to push the lead out to 13 points and the game was virtually over as a contest.

Heading into the last 10 minutes Tom Croft made a dash for the line after the All Blacks somehow lost the ball in a drive, but Carter's cover tackle was supreme.

England pushed for a late try but the All Blacks' defence held strong and it now means they haven't conceded a try in Europe since the fateful 2007 World Cup quarter final.

England (Johnny Wilkinson 2 pens)
All Blacks (Jimmy Cowan try; Daniel Carter 4 pens)

H/T: 6-6