Twickenham did everything to get England over the line, but this side falls apart when it counts
England are turning into the clumsiest of closers. In terms of atmospherics, everything was stacked in their favour here, from Chandler Cunningham-South’s thunderously crowd-pleasing hits to the spectacle of 81,000 people burying the haka beneath the swell of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. And yet still they could not haul themselves across the line. Still they lapsed into their unfortunate tendency to choose protecting a lead above pressing the accelerator, paying the price as George Ford’s botched dropped-goal attempt slewed harmlessly into the night sky.
Listen to that roar! 🔊
What a tackle from Chandler Cunningham-South! 💪#AutumnNationsSeries | #ENGvNZL pic.twitter.com/jogL1d9Yif— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 2, 2024
This abundance of caution is causing them to squander priceless chances and Steve Borthwick, worryingly, refuses even to acknowledge the weakness. Asked directly whether England were too gun-shy in the final 20 minutes of Tests, he would not engage, shaking his head and offering the thinnest of smiles.
But the evidence is impossible to ignore. England have had the unusual privilege of playing three Test matches against the All Blacks in a calendar year, a luxury not enjoyed for a decade. Somehow, they have contrived to lose all three despite holding a scoreboard advantage in the final quarter of every one. They led New Zealand by two points in Dunedin after 65 minutes, by four in Auckland after 61, and by five here at a febrile Twickenham after 75. Each platform has been allowed to crumble, with these players appearing to suffer a form of psychological block once in sight of the prize.
It is all very well Borthwick promising to “be better” against Australia next week. These are the moments, with England’s wait for a home victory against New Zealand now stretching to 13 years at least, that are crying out to be seized. And the more they fluff their lines, the more their habit of tailing off in the crucial stages threatens to become ingrained.
Inexplicable decision to hook Smith
The head coach ascribed this latest torment to plain rotten luck, referring to George Ford’s late penalty miss and insisting that “the width of the post” had decided the contest. More pertinent, surely, was the question of why Ford was on the pitch at all, given Borthwick’s inexplicable decision to hook Marcus Smith just when he seemed to be playing out of his skin. No wonder Lima Sopoaga, the former All Blacks fly-half, could not conceal his astonishment. “If I’m Marcus Smith, I’m spewing,” he said. After all, you could scarcely imagine New Zealand making the same call with Beauden Barrett.
You could not conceive of Clive Woodward having sanctioned it with Jonny Wilkinson either. England led New Zealand by eight when Smith made way for Ford with 17 minutes to go, a sure sign that the recipe Borthwick had concocted was working and that he tampered with it as his peril. But he gave the sense of being implacably opposed to the notion of keeping Smith on for the full 80, instead relying on Ford, in whom he placed such trust in Leicester, to complete the task. That calculation manifestly backfired: it was not just that the stand-in 10 miscued his two kicks, but that he also looked ring-rusty, missing a potentially try-saving tackle on Mark Tele’a.
WHAT A MATCH! 😱
George Ford had the chance to win it with a drop goal but pushes it wide and the All Blacks claim the win!#AutumnNationsSeries | #ENGvNZL pic.twitter.com/rV8qYW2Jf3— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 2, 2024
As New Zealand celebrated, barely able to believe their luck, there were bleak mutterings of incredulity in their stands. It was as if a hole had been torn in a giant helium balloon, with all the breathless anticipation stirred by this pulsating duel evaporating from the ground. England’s players, realising the significance of the result they had let slip, staggered around in horror. By the time Jamie George turned up for his inquisition, the emotions were no less raw. The occasion, the captain lamented, had been “electric”. And at the death, his side succeeded merely in turning the power off at the mains.
Days such as these are far from guaranteed at Twickenham. In the death throes of Eddie Jones’s reign, the mood could be sour, restive, borderline mutinous. But there was a palpable exhilaration this time, with England supporters prepared even to tolerate the place’s clinical corporate rebrand as the Allianz Stadium so long as these players delivered on their youthful promise. It was one of those precious celestial alignments, with a rejuvenated team offered a stage on which to prove their mettle against perhaps the most daunting opposition of all.
True, they still have to confront back-to-back world champions South Africa in a fortnight’s time. But nothing this autumn is likely to rival the crackling ferocity at kick-off, with New Zealand’s visit given added piquancy by Joe Marler’s description, since retracted, of the haka as “ridiculous”. If you had thought the pre-match handshake between Marler and Scott Robertson might preface a rapprochement, you were mistaken, with England summoning one of their most belligerent responses to the Maori war dance. First they advanced on the haka, then the All Blacks replied in kind, until the distance between the sides was far less than the mandated 10 metres.
BIG RESPONSE! 🌹
England face up to the Haka! #AutumnNationsSeries | #ENGvNZL pic.twitter.com/pHV7VcXiSa— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 2, 2024
Cunningham-South was vividly lifted by the hostile stand-off, urging fans to amplify the volume after landing a monstrous tackle on Tupou Vaa’i to force the knock-on. Whether it is the 21-year-old flanker, or the irrepressible Smith, or the brilliant wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – rewarded for his industry with a rousing try – England are not short of flair players with whom they can lift the nation. The problem is that they are still stricken by anxiety when it matters most. It is a pathology that needs curing, and fast.