We take a look at the England player ratings vs All Blacks at Eden Park as Steve Borthwick’s men fell to yet another slender defeat.
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Test rugby is undeniably brutal, isn’t it?
England deserved a better outcome from that Test, but they ultimately lost the series 2-0. The margins were incredibly fine, and one can only hope they will look back on this with some positivity. There seems to be potential for more from this squad.
The match was another nail-biter, with only one score separating the teams at the end. However, once again, New Zealand came out on top, securing a 24-17 victory when the final whistle blew.
England’s Maro Itoje speaking to Sky Sports: “In the second half we were not as accurate as we wanted to be, we gave away a few too many penalties and gave them easy points and territory.
“When you are playing a good team, you cannot really do that. We gave their backfield opportunities to run it back at us, Beauden Barrett and the rest are good players so we don’t want to give them opportunities but we live and we learn.
“It is tough but I think we showed some improvements in the way we play the game but at the end of the day it just wasn’t good enough today.
“We are at the start of the journey, we are a young team and we can only get better for these experiences.”
Scroll down for England player ratings vs All Blacks:
England stats vs All Blacks:
- Carries: Ben Earl – 18
- Metres made: Ben Earl – 73
- Defenders beaten: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – 4
- Turnovers conceded: Freddie Steward – 2
- Tackles: Jamie George – 15
- Tackles missed: Sam Underhill – 4
England player ratings vs All Blacks:
15 Freddie Steward – 6.5
Called to start for the Test in the absence of George Furbank, as the Northampton Saints fullback pulled out with a late back injury. Steward impressed under the high ball to his usual talents, and returned the kicks with stunning showings of pace. Steward was withdrawn for the final 12 minutes, as he was clattered by Ethan de Groot with the prop hitting him at top speed.
14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – 8
A brilliant performance from the Exeter Chiefs wing, as the All Blacks wings will certainly remember the name Feyi-Waboso. Starting off his evening with a stunning try, the flying wing plucked a Marcus Smith cross-field kick out of the air, and breezed past the All Blacks defenders on his way through to the try-line. Constantly asking questions of the defenders whenever he got his hands on the ball, Feyi-Waboso also had a solid defensive effort with heavy hits.
13 Henry Slade – 6.5
Slade ticked his boxes in attack, but did not shine in the line as much as he would have hoped. The Chiefs man was put under plenty of pressure by the All Blacks high line, with the defensive speed forcing the centre to go for the boot to clear his lines time and again.
12 Ollie Lawrence – 6
It was a mixed bag from Lawrence, with the Bath man making a handful of handling errors in the first half. Lawrence opted to explode onto the ball at pace, and formed an axis with Ben Earl, as he peeled off the back of a scrum. However, Lawrence was routinly met with a heavy shoulder and spilled the ball in contact a few times of counting.
11 Tommy Freeman – 7.5
The England wing was another top performer for Borthwick’s squad, and impressed all onlookers with his superbly taken try. Jumping up at full stretch to pluck the ball out of Mark Tele’a’s grasp, Freeman showcased his agility and power to seal off Smith’s cross-field kick. A solid outing defensively, as Freeman had a proper positional battle with Sevu Reece.
10 Marcus Smith – 8
The fly half pulled double duty for England today, as he began the match at 10 yet finished out his evening in the fullback spot. Smith had a stunning effort against the All Blacks, as he contributed two assists from cross-field kicks and was also impressive defensively. A linchpin of the England attack who made amends on his Dunedin missed kicks.