New Zealand recorded their eighth successive win over England with a 19-6 victory at Twickenham on Saturday after scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan scampered over for the only try of the match in the 57th minute. Skip related content
Cowan's try came after relentless recycling by New Zealand as they surged on to the attack, although the home supporters thought the final pass from captain Richie McCaw had gone forward.
They had been level 6-6 at halftime but New Zealand gradually took charge and finished as worthy winners.
England had said they intended to get into the faces of the All Blacks, who they felt had looked vulnerable to front-foot tackling during their four defeats this season, and they certainly began with a step up in intensity from last week's game against Argentina.
It almost earned them an early try when Ugo Monye dislodged the ball from Zac Guildford and crossed the line, only for the referee to rule out the score for a knock-on.
New Zealand also had a try disallowed when Monye's last-ditch tackle did just enough to force Mils Muliaina's foot into touch before the fullback touched down.
Otherwise it was a fierce forward battle with two penalties apiece for Jonny Wilkinson and Dan Carter to make it 6-6 at halftime.
Carter's scores took him ahead of Andrew Mehrtens as New Zealand's all-time leading points scorer but the flyhalf, who had barely missed a goal kick all season, also sent two relatively straightforward penalty attempts wide.
He was on target after 47 minutes, though, to edge the All Blacks ahead and it began to look important as both teams pounded away at each other either side of the halfway line without looking like breaking through.
GREATER PRESSURE
New Zealand began to exert the greater pressure and after the forwards began to batter holes in the home defence, a half-break by Sitiveni Sivivatu and a quick pass from Richie McCaw sent Cowan over in the left corner.
Carter's conversion made it 16-6 and effectively ended England's chances.
Breaks by Muliaina and Zac Guildford threatened further tries and though England, who made almost twice as many tackles as the visitors during the match, hauled them down, more forward power earned Carter another three points in front of the posts.
"In defence we are solid and that's something to be proud of but in our attacking ability we have to hang on to the ball and build some phases," Carter told Sky Sports.
"I missed a couple of easy kicks but was pretty happy with a couple of long-range ones."
Looking ahead to the game against France next week he said: "It's probably our biggest challenge, they are playing extremely well, it's going to make or break our season so we'll be 100 percent for that game."
"It's a mixed feeling," said England manager Martin Johnson. "There was a chance to be in the game , I'm not saying we would have won it but...the breakdown was probably the biggest difference and we couldn't counter it.
Lewis Moody, England's stand-out performer again, said: "They put us under sustained pressure today and we couldn't finish.
"I'm never happy with a defeat but I'm proud of the way we came out and threw everything at them especially in the first 20 minutes.
"Those unforced errors crept in again in the last 20 minutes but we have to take confidence from that. We are not where we want to be but we are getting there."
(Editing by John Mehaffey)
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