England v All Blacks: Five takeaways as Henry Pollock leads ‘Pom Squad chaos’ in statement win while New Zealand are ‘toasted’
England back-row Henry Pollock against New Zealand.
Following England’s 33-19 victory over New Zealand in the Autumn Nations Series, here’s our five takeaways from the game at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
The top line
This was a statement win by England against an All Blacks side that were searching for a memorable tour Grand Slam.
If there was a defining statistic from this match it’s that England came from 12 points down after 17 minutes to win the next 63 minutes 33-7, a phenomenal effort.
To their credit, one of the hallmarks of this performance was England’s ability to react to match context. Whether that be shoring up their early defensive lapses, keeping the scoreboard rolling via Player of the Match George Ford’s two opportunistic drop goals, or working a way to get decoy pods moving the All Blacks midfield defence around to create gaps, England found a way and they answered every question that New Zealand threw at them.
England’s tries came from Ollie Lawrence, Sam Underhill, Fraser Dingwall and Tom Roebuck, with Leicester Fainga’anuku, Codie Taylor and Will Jordan scoring for New Zealand, as the Twickenham faithful were treated to some wonderful ambition, but crucially, ambition underpinned with clarity of thinking and control of territory.
For New Zealand, they simply ran out of steam; perhaps cruelly penalised with a quite soft yellow card, they lacked the physicality in the gainline battle, save for the wonderful performance of Peter Lakai, and, rather surprisingly they came off very much second best at scrum time. Their Grand Slam is over, but England’s road to Rugby World Cup 2027 might just have begun.
Brilliance in carry
Ben Earl must spend his pre-match reading the archaic thinking on social media about his role as a Test number eight before laughing loudly in the faces of those who doubt his value in this crucial position. Another 20 carries under his belt, but key to this performance was how he worked in a pod of three around the England centres to offer a power carrying option or to occupy the thoughts of the defenders.
It was classic Lee Blackett attack philosophy; get three men running off the ball in a diamond pod at pace, and as a result, both Lawrence and Dingwall had outstanding afternoons, enjoying the space that Earl’s presence created, and both England centres, alongside Earl, were all contenders for the Player of the Match award.
In front of them, a word for both England half-backs; Alex Mitchell’s ability to get pace into the attack from the base is peerless within the Prem; he makes untidy ball work, he adds variety, but above all, he does everything in the blink of an eye. And, with the masterful Ford paired with him, England had a counterpoint of control and gas, which forced the All Blacks to stand off a lot of the initial contact, as they were forced to defend both the Mitchell breaking work but with one eye on the tactical kick game that England had if the Saints scrum-half was shut down.
England’s players from six to 13 outplayed every single one of their opposite numbers – they matched and beat them on tempo, but above all, they also matched them on temperament, something that hasn’t always been the case for English sides.
All Blacks derailed
Scott Robertson’s men have had a hard shift, but whilst the Springboks are clearly adding to their depth, this match might just underline that the depth in All Black rugby isn’t yet where their coaches would need it to be.
Outgunned in the back-row, and outplayed in the centres and half-backs, it was a mark of the sheer ball playing ability of New Zealand that they still managed to threaten, but as their starters tired, so those that replaced them fell off the tempo of a brutally fast match.
One question that needs to be answered is the removal of their best player, Cam Roigard, after 50 minutes; it was a quite bizarre call, barring any injury, as the wonderful Kiwi half-back was keeping his side in the game with a wonderful display of kicking from the base.
Perhaps it was fatigue, but as England rose, so the Kiwi collisions fell off; they desperately missed the counterpoint of Jordie Barrett hammering metres in the 12 channel and tying in players into contact; the move of Fainga’anuku to the wing may have gathered an early try, but his directness in carry was sorely missed, and the absence of both him and Barrett gave England’s centres the space to absolutely dominate the gainline efforts.
Of biggest concern will be the toasting both England front-rows gave their first choice props. Only Tyrel Lomax was missing from the Kiwi stocks, yet England, for the first time in ages, have finally got their scrum mojo back, a crucial source of penalties and territory in the close out moments of the match.
Pom Squad chaos
If Kwagga Smith defines the Bomb Squad for the Springboks, the ultimate measurement, then there’s a growing school of thought that Henry Pollock might just be defining the Pom Squad for England.
Love him or hate him (and let’s be honest, we all like to do a bit of both) his ability to create absolute chaos in opposition defences is a mark of a very effective and intelligent player. Above all, no cause is lost to Pollock, no ball is too difficult to win and no man is big enough for him to cede to.
Yet again the peroxide Pom did his stuff – chaos off the side of the scrum to win a crucial moment; then a desperate fly hack and the speed to follow through and set up the clinching try from Roebuck; he came on and he closed the match off, exactly what his job description says.
Add in a big shift from Will Stuart, some massive moments from a great of English rugby, Tom Curry (which featured an absolutely earth shattering tackle in the dying moments) and early impact from Marcus Smith once the unfortunate Freddie Steward went off and it’s fair to say that Steve Borthwick’s own interpretation of the Rassie Erasmus and Eddie Jones replacement playbook is maturing very nicely indeed.
England defence questions
If there was one question mark over this wonderful win it was around the hosts’ early defence work.
England’s defensive system has moved this season from a moderated push to a narrower physical blitz, which relies upon absolute focus of numbers and technique around the fold corner – 13 to wing – on the wide outside.
However, in this match three issues conspired to allow New Zealand’s sheer pace and physicality to get around the hosts and the Byron McGuigan designed system on numerous occasions.
Firstly, England habitually protected the 10 channel with one of their back-rows, in most instances, Guy Pepper. That took one drift man away from the corner of the defence, a key flanker in this case.
Secondly, to fill that gap and to deliver the system relies upon the full-back and the ‘man in the boot’ getting back and in behind the primary line to support the wide channel.
The third part of the system that failed was Roebuck being forced to come off his wing and defend the penultimate, rather than the last, carrier. The end result was that on four occasions, New Zealand created a numerical mismatch with one extra player on the wide outside.
The All Blacks need a lot of credit to how they de-engineered the England system. On each occasion they carried really hard and deep into that 10/12 channel to remove the extra backrow from the line. Then, with fast recycle allowing players to stay on feet Roigard and Barrett brought one extra runner (Jordan or Carter) into the 12/13 channel which effectively meant that they were always attacking England’s touchline with one extra player, safe in the knowledge that, due to numbers, Roebuck had to bite it.
It was a costly failure of a system bedding in that requires a lot more workrate and coordination if it’s to work as England want it – and to their credit they did exactly that as the match went on, but don’t denude just how well New Zealand reacted to it early on and exploited the weakness.
