Last weekend in Dunedin, England performed admirably with some brilliant moments such as Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s try, but ultimately an inability to take their chances proved costly.
The missed kicks of Marcus Smith were scrutinised after New Zealand held on for a 16-15 victory in the first Test but whilst the off-target efforts of the fly-half did seem crucial, there was another factor in the game which turned the tide in favour of the All Blacks.
Steve Borthwick’s side certainly didn’t shy away from the challenge but at the breakdown in particular, they couldn’t always dictate their own game.
The scrum has been the talk of the town this week with the legality of Ethan de Groot’s scrummaging being highlighted across various news outlets.
England to raise concerns over New Zealand's scrum ahead of second Test after Ethan de Groot was criticised by experts for his conduct in All Blacks' tense victory in Dunedin https://t.co/wq67a4HXwn
And whilst Borthwick admitted England will ask for the perspective of referee Nic Berry - the man in the middle on Saturday at Eden Park - they must also focus on securing their own ball at the breakdown.
Their blitz defence did a decent job of slowing the All Blacks down but when it came to giving themselves a platform to attack off, England did struggle at times.
We did see moments where they did move the ball quickly to get over the gainline, with the speed of Alex Mitchell allowing the visitors to play faster and the vision of Smith and Ollie Lawrence forcing pressure with the boot.
Notably before Feyi-Waboso’s try at the start of the second half, once again, Mitchell and Smith either challenged the New Zealand defensive line or put their teammates into gaps.
In these phases of attack, both full-back George Furbank [who has been ruled out of the second Test with a back injury and replaced by Freddie Steward] and Sam Underhill filled in at scrum-half highlighting the focus on England playing quickly and really putting their foot on the gas once they were in behind New Zealand.
On both of these occasions, this all came from efficient clearouts at the breakdown but when England were unsuccessful in this area, it impacted their game.
On 29 minutes, after strong defensive work, England had a scrum in between their 22 and the 10-metre line. It seemed like a perfect position to launch an attacking set or to exit well and give themselves some territory after being under pressure.
Ben Earl picks up from the base with Henry Slade and Underhill as the two clearers, their attention firmly on removing Ardie Savea from the equation. However, they do this weakly allowing Scott Barrett the opportunity to counter-ruck both of them and win possession for the All Blacks.
This time, England were let off the hook but the same mistake was later punished in a much more prominent example.
Leading 15-10, Borthwick’s troops won the ball back, pouncing on a loose kick and set up to exit with two slow rucks. However, Tom Curry is penalised for going straight off his feet leading to Damian McKenzie adding three points for the hosts on 53 minutes.
The final example I wanted to highlight focuses more on England’s efficiency in claiming their own ball in an attacking sense.
A lineout on the All Blacks 10-metre line is followed by carries from Smith and Curry.
Within two seconds, the ball is cleared away from the first breakdown by replacement scrum-half Ben Spencer after good work by Lawrence and Tommy Freeman.
The following carry by Curry is the problem as even though the Sale Shark is stopped on the gainline, Fin Baxter and Theo Dan fail on the initial clearout.
At the second attempt, the young Harlequins prop just about manages to secure possession but the issue is Spencer takes almost 10 seconds to get the ball away and it completely kills the momentum in England’s attack.
This slow ball was a huge theme in the last quarter with the majority of England’s box kick set-ups at the ruck taking up to 10 seconds and decreasing the tempo of the game.
Borthwick said England “were really disappointed we didn’t win last weekend” so if they are to become the first team to beat the All Blacks at Eden Park for 30 years, they will need to expand on what they did brilliantly with the ball in Dunedin by making sure they give themselves the platform to keep possession and attack New Zealand.
