Phenomenal: Manu Tuilagi
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Delirium was the order of the day on Saturday at Twickenham as England defeated New Zealand 38-21 with three second-half tries.
New Zealand responded to a 15-0 defecit with scores from Julian Savea and Kieran Read, before England took charge thanks to three of their own from Brad Barritt, Chris Ashton and Manu Tuilagi in an astonishing second-half performance.
Owen Farrell endured a tumultuous week with being named as one of the best four players in the world, as if the pressure coming for England's most-capped player in Toby Flood wasn't enough. But the young Saracen flourished, showing great poise with the boot as he continued to tally up the points and steered England during the first half.
The All Blacks had been struck down by a vomiting bug during the week and despite Richie McCaw's claim that it would not affect them at Twickenham, New Zealand did not look themselves at all during the first 50 minutes as they were denied possession.
Julian Savea's try changed all of that; stepping his way through three England defenders in the left-hand corner to breathe life into the All Blacks. They flicked the switch and thundered forward from the re-start, sticking to their principles of running rugby and exploiting gaps that they left untouched in the first half.
England though were not simply going to fall down on their knees. Instead they roared back, thumping the All Blacks as the second half wore on. The rarest of breaks from Brad Barritt had the crowd roaring and a one-two with centre partner Tuilagi led to the hosts' first try.
Tuilagi then skipped through a tackle from Dan Carter to burst free, feeding Ashton who sprinted over for the second try. A Tuilagi interception then sealed the match, cruising home and slowing down as he neared the line as if he couldn't believe his luck. England were like a new team - the All Blacks were exhausted.
Whilst Carter missed two shots at goal in the first half, his fellow IRB Player of the Year nominee Farrell was accurate - knocking over two first-half penalties to give England a surprising 6-0 lead to the delight of the home crowd.
An overthrown lineout from Keven Mealamu resulted in another English driving maul before Tuilagi burst into the 22 and with the advantage being played, Farrell dropped back and stretched England's lead to nine.
Another infringement with seconds remaining left Farrell with another chance to strike before half-time, landing the 48 metre kick to leave the score at 12-0. Twickenham had never been more pleasantly surprised.
The run continued after the break with England winning a penalty at the scrum, Farrell again converting to leave New Zealand more than two converted tries behind the hosts.
Those tries duly arrived in two explosive bangs in the left-hand corner; the first coming from Savea then the second coming as the conclusion to some wonderful passing that left Read galloping into the corner before England scorched away. Savea responded with a try with only five minutes left but it was not enough as the All Blacks lost for the first time in 2012.
Man of the match: Two assists and one crucial interception try from Manu Tuilagi make him the player of the day.
Moment of the match: With New Zealand edging back into the match, Brad Barritt's score swung the momentum back in England's favour.
Villain of the match: The mystery bug that struck New Zealand earlier in the week. McCaw might have denied it would have an effect, but the All Blacks looked exhausted.
The scorers:
For England:
Tries: Barritt, Ashton, Tuilagi
Con: Farrell
Pens: Farrell (5), Burns
Yellow Card: Vunipola
For New Zealand:
Tries: Savea (2), Read
Cons: Carter (2), Cruden
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Jonathan Joseph.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumunia, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Victor Vito, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ben Smith.
by Ben Coles
@bencoles_
Comments
trianglechoke says...
Congratulations for a fine win England ! as a Allblack supporter I haven't seen the game yet since I'm in the states, but from what I read here you were definitely the better team today ! A historic win for your team ! My Allblacks will be back in form I'm sure !
Posted 21:05 01st December 2012
Michtymauler says...
Take that as a kick in the cahoneys to AB arrogance! Who were those mugs in black who thought they only had to turn up to win!! Good for northern hemisphere rugby as a whole and well done to an unusually spirited performance by England. Mind you I would have preferred to have seen an English midfield but saying that, the two foreign chaps, Tui and Barry didn't let much through the midfield!
Posted 20:53 01st December 2012
Michtymauler says...
Take that as a kick in the cahoneys to AB arrogance! Who were thoseugs on black who thought they only had to turn up to win!! Good for northern hemisphere rugby as a whole and well done to an unusually spirited performance by England. Mind you I would have preferred to have seen an English midfield but saying that, the two foreign chaps, Tui and Barry didn't let much through the midfield!
Posted 20:52 01st December 2012
kiwihelpgeek says...
Well done England, on your win. By all account, it was a good, clean game from both teams.
And you never know. You might taste success against the All Blacks in another 9 years or so.
Posted 20:51 01st December 2012
RoseTiger says...
@ roid2000
Reason - a bird. I came to my senses and we split. I realised I like talking about politics and the world and not having a chip on my shoulder about everywhere else i.e. Oz, UK, SA, USA etc - as opposed to only being able to talk about beer and rugby. A dull as dishwater country I'm afraid.'Dull as....'
Posted 20:45 01st December 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Lions... Pro12 fans I was arguing with for their 1 Aviva player (Gray) do they still recommend zero England players for Lions 15??????
Posted 20:44 01st December 2012
Kiwi_n_US says...
Watched the game live here in the US but couldn't watch the end. A great game by the English, outplayed the ABs all over the paddock. Thought we had a chance at 15-14 then the floodgates opened. It's only fair that the country that invented the game occasionally beat the team that have almost perfected it.
Well played England, hope you build on this win. What a great season, thank you to the men in Black (bought to you by AIG) and to all the trolls...nothing... you ain't worth the time.
Posted 20:33 01st December 2012
poffadder says...
I found living there in NZ for three years that anyone that wanted to get on in life and had a brain ¿ left.
@RoseTiger - you still there then?
@Kneegrow - 80+% win record for the season ain't exactly mediocre.
Posted 20:16 01st December 2012
Temana says...
I think it is history repeating itself. In 1988 and 89 after the 87 cup we had a great unbeaten run.. We were let down by our big guns today. I will be interested to see who blames Piri Weepu this time. All 3 second half tries were the result of (try 1) Carter, McCaw and Aaron Smith missing Tuilagi (try 2) Conrad Smith missing his assignment on Barrit and (try 3) Kieran Reid intercept passing to Tuilagi. We can't and won't win if we go with our stalwarts for 3 more years. Even if McCaw and Carter take sabbaticals we won't win. We need to bite the bullet and give Sam Caine, Cruden, Whoever is going to be centre (dunno about who that will be). We are an aging team and there is no easy way to ease the loyal soldiers out but they must be changed. We have hit our peak with these guys and we may win 4 nations tests at home etc etc but we won't win in 2015 if we don't start the process now. Well done England one win every 9 years is something to celebrate. Gallent losers usually great win to keep you going for the next 9 years.
Posted 20:10 01st December 2012
Waz4before says...
Best England performance for as long as I can remember in terms on consistency and application throughout the 80 minutes - it's hard for any team to play well when the opposition is knocking you back all over the park which is what England did to the kiwis today. Some magnificent individual performances in there but best of all, it was a great team effort :-). Well done to the kiwis though for not laying down and taking this, they'll be back better and stronger of course so much work for England to do to make sure they consistently perform at this level ...
Posted 20:09 01st December 2012
Egdar says...
Another apology on behalf of the Poms to the Kiwis for the sad words of Rose Tiger.
Mate you obviously attracted some losers during your time here. It's a great country with good people, beautiful places, and way more opportunity than the most of the UK at present. I'll be pretty happy going into work Monday morning but I know my kiwi colleagues will take my jibes well.
Let's face it this is the anomaly. (Oh and the food is good too- can't comment on the chicken as I'm a vegetarian.)
Posted 20:07 01st December 2012
Nebuchadnezzar says...
Everyone should take this game for what it is. England played well - New Zealand played poorly.
New Zealanders are accused of being arrogant. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. But based on some of the comments here already you'd think we were the greatest team in the world now. We aren't. It was one game. No parades, no tickertape. Let's be positive and use this experience and confidence to back it up with wins over the SH on a regular basis. The 6N is around the corner - let's look to some positive games there first.
All teams lose. Its a fact. Some lose more than others and on any given day any team in the top bracket can turn over any other team. Winning regularly makes you a good team.
Let's show what sportsmanship is about. Be gracious in defeat and humble yet happy in victory.
Great win, lads. I bet it feels good. Remember this feeling.
Posted 20:07 01st December 2012
Nahpoowee says...
@ Heathy the only people talking (typing) about the bug seem to be supporting the winning team, so try something new and come up with your own comments. Interesting the excitement that one win can create.
Great game England!
Posted 20:01 01st December 2012
Ramm83 says...
@londonwasp - what sort of half arsed fan are you? You watch your team no matter what... Psssshhhhh
Posted 20:00 01st December 2012
RugbyLeRoux says...
Well done England, although I wouldn't be surprised if this puts the rocket up the AB's arse that sees them push on to win the 2015 WC...bollocks
Posted 20:00 01st December 2012
rugby_lord says...
Look at all the English fans commenting here, out in numbers after 1 good game. That's just it, 1 good game.......
Posted 19:58 01st December 2012
KiwiLad says...
@ all, to say the ABs were poor is to take to much away from how good England actually were on the day.
@BokPretender, your comment was as mindless, boring and predictable as the Boks have been for the past 5 years..
Posted 19:56 01st December 2012
lummie says...
To those that wish to mock New Zealand and its team, a reminder of what they have achieved. 20 games unbeaten, world cup, rugby championship clean sweep, bledisloe cup retained. Call it arrogance if you want but I will take that deal every day even if it means one end of season loss.
Posted 19:47 01st December 2012
Heathy says...
Well, well, well. So, all the arrogant and clearly ignorant comments before this game just goes to show what you don't know. Actually I wonder if we hear from jonesy2 or bokbebok on this threat to say sorry. Hey, clearly this is a blip but it just shows that there is potential and no reason to be so derogatory to a Southern Hemisphere team just because you think you can and think the SH are all conquering. Queue the 'illness', 'fatigue', 'referee', 'injuries' blah blah blah comments.
Posted 19:42 01st December 2012
7ton says...
Congratulations to England for a very well deserved win. Manu Tuilagi for me was the man of the match as he was influential in all 3 of Englands tries but it was a 15 man effort that won them the game.
In regards to NZ they have had a great run this year and in the previous 3 years of Autumn internationals but all good things come to an end and while it did come down with a big thump history shows that they will be back
Posted 19:38 01st December 2012