New Zealand vs England - First Test minute-by-minute

[FKAS]

This is worth a watch - actually changed one of my bits of m-b-m because he spotted something I didn't:



Puja

Yeah it's a good watch. I don't think the Kiwi journalists have given England much credit but Robertson clearly did.

[R3dders]

Minute 46: New Zealand kick to touch about 30m out. The lineout is regulation, but Christie gets a nasty shock when Itoje emerges from the middle of the maul and nearly scrags him. It does get back to McKenzie though, who kicks long and straight down Feyi-Waboso's throat. They should learn to stop doing that, as he eats up the ground with a diagonal run and then picks out Slade on the switch.

Minute 47: Slade somehow resists the temptation to kick it aimlessly away and instead makes another 15m break. Quick ball and we run one forward phase infield, before Mitchell picks and goes to the blind side. NZ aren't set properly and Mitchell pumps the dummy to buy himself room before going on a half-break that buys us another 10m. Furbank is there to play 9 and a lovely tip-on from Earl to Martin takes us to the edge of the 22. It's instant ball again - Underhill is there just ahead of the recovering Mitchell to play it away, and I just want to take a moment to note how flexible and aware England have been. In this move alone, we've had IFW and Slade clearing out the ruck, Furbank in at 9, Earl playing first receiver and tipping it on, and then Furbank clearing that ruck with Underhill spotting Mitchell's not quite in position and being there to play it away himself. It's Ajax Total Football and I'm loving it.

Anyway, back to the rugby, where MSmith is running onto Underhill gorgeous scrum-half service and running at the line with ball in two hands. NZ are not aligned properly - they've got three players trying to keep an eye on the running of MSmith, CCS, Baxter and Stuart, and Smith does a delicious job. Taylor is worried about Smith running, so he pumps the ball and feigns to step inside - the outside man follows the dummy to mark Baxter, the inside man steps in to cover Smith and Marcus can then put Cunningham-South through the giant hole he just created. CCS is dragged down, but Baxter is first there to blast any thought of a jackal away from the ruck and Mitchell can play away. He makes the wrong choice to my mind - we've got an overlap and Smith to the right, but he goes left with an isolated Martin. Furbank does get to the ruck in time to clear out, although NZ will be questioning whether he came in from the side as well.

Still, it's our ball and Mitchell passes to Cunningham-South who carries far too high and is lucky to be able to get the offload away before he is dumped backwards. Underhill carries the shit ball up well before Smith takes the next phase and jinks past a couple of tacklers before being tackled. It's not going forward anymore which is an issue, but thankfully Freeman is here to solve that. More quick ball and Mitchell looks like he's sniping, to draw the defenders, before passing it out to Freeman on the run. He powers through McKenzie and is only just stopped short of the line. Itoje picks and goes, dreaming of his double, but New Zealand stop him just short.

Minute 48: Cunningham-South and then Underhill try to rumble over, but they're both repelled centimetres away. This is a good moment, as previous England would've kept trying, dazzled by the nearness of the line, before eventually a Vunipolae would've knocked on or got held up over the line. This current England, Mitchell demands the ball after the third failed attempt and passes it out to Smith.

He sends Earl up on the crash first off and he makes it back up to the gainline with some strong post-contact metres. Freeman clears out the ruck and Mitchell can sweep the ball straight away from the base. Furbank is offering himself as a tight, flat option at 10, but the ball goes behind him to Marcus Smith drifting sideways on the pass. He is almost certainly through himself if he dummies and runs, but he takes the 100% option rather than the 95% one by putting in a lovely pass to IFW on the wing. Probably would've been a better angle for the conversion had he gone himself, but 'm sure that won't prove important.

Minute 49: Replays show just how good a job MSmith did at 10 in that try. He may've had a shit kicking day, but we wouldn't've got as close as we did without him at fly-half.

Minute 50: Smith learns from his previous kicks that skewed left, but adjusts too far and this one skews out to the right of the posts. 10-15 to the best-dressed team.

New Zealand kick-off and it's a nice one, but Martin's lifting pod are in the right position and he takes with ease. We have a little rumble and then set up a caterpillar for Mitchell to kick from. This one is right back on form for him, making 20m ground and landing about 2m from the touchline - JBarrett catches and gets a face full of Freeman and Underhill, and does incredibly well to lob the ball back inside before he's introduced to the touchline. It lands in Kiwi hands more by luck than judgement and they play into midfield where they're met by the set English defensive line.

For me, that try was our best piece of attacking play for a long long time. As you say, Marcus should have backed himself and probably kicked the points to put us too far ahead in what was such a closr game. No chance he passes if under no pressure for his place. Such is test rugby.

I wonder if quins rarely ever taking the points is hurting his test place-kicking game. Hopefully we get to a position where he can kick to the corner against all but the top 2 or 3 teams in any case.

I'm surprised you think we were holding on a bit in the first half though. Sure we got the rub of the green on a couple of decisions, but i thought we were in the ascendency. We conceded 2 tries from poor deployment of the rush defence, the first a Mitchell error and the second an Earl one - although in fairness could have been anyone. We tighten those up (which I'm sure we will over the coming games and against weaker opposition) and we look a pretty hard team to score against.

Need to move on from Slade though, he's a real problem at this stage.

[FKAS]

Minute 46: New Zealand kick to touch about 30m out. The lineout is regulation, but Christie gets a nasty shock when Itoje emerges from the middle of the maul and nearly scrags him. It does get back to McKenzie though, who kicks long and straight down Feyi-Waboso's throat. They should learn to stop doing that, as he eats up the ground with a diagonal run and then picks out Slade on the switch.

Minute 47: Slade somehow resists the temptation to kick it aimlessly away and instead makes another 15m break. Quick ball and we run one forward phase infield, before Mitchell picks and goes to the blind side. NZ aren't set properly and Mitchell pumps the dummy to buy himself room before going on a half-break that buys us another 10m. Furbank is there to play 9 and a lovely tip-on from Earl to Martin takes us to the edge of the 22. It's instant ball again - Underhill is there just ahead of the recovering Mitchell to play it away, and I just want to take a moment to note how flexible and aware England have been. In this move alone, we've had IFW and Slade clearing out the ruck, Furbank in at 9, Earl playing first receiver and tipping it on, and then Furbank clearing that ruck with Underhill spotting Mitchell's not quite in position and being there to play it away himself. It's Ajax Total Football and I'm loving it.

Anyway, back to the rugby, where MSmith is running onto Underhill gorgeous scrum-half service and running at the line with ball in two hands. NZ are not aligned properly - they've got three players trying to keep an eye on the running of MSmith, CCS, Baxter and Stuart, and Smith does a delicious job. Taylor is worried about Smith running, so he pumps the ball and feigns to step inside - the outside man follows the dummy to mark Baxter, the inside man steps in to cover Smith and Marcus can then put Cunningham-South through the giant hole he just created. CCS is dragged down, but Baxter is first there to blast any thought of a jackal away from the ruck and Mitchell can play away. He makes the wrong choice to my mind - we've got an overlap and Smith to the right, but he goes left with an isolated Martin. Furbank does get to the ruck in time to clear out, although NZ will be questioning whether he came in from the side as well.

Still, it's our ball and Mitchell passes to Cunningham-South who carries far too high and is lucky to be able to get the offload away before he is dumped backwards. Underhill carries the shit ball up well before Smith takes the next phase and jinks past a couple of tacklers before being tackled. It's not going forward anymore which is an issue, but thankfully Freeman is here to solve that. More quick ball and Mitchell looks like he's sniping, to draw the defenders, before passing it out to Freeman on the run. He powers through McKenzie and is only just stopped short of the line. Itoje picks and goes, dreaming of his double, but New Zealand stop him just short.

Minute 48: Cunningham-South and then Underhill try to rumble over, but they're both repelled centimetres away. This is a good moment, as previous England would've kept trying, dazzled by the nearness of the line, before eventually a Vunipolae would've knocked on or got held up over the line. This current England, Mitchell demands the ball after the third failed attempt and passes it out to Smith.

He sends Earl up on the crash first off and he makes it back up to the gainline with some strong post-contact metres. Freeman clears out the ruck and Mitchell can sweep the ball straight away from the base. Furbank is offering himself as a tight, flat option at 10, but the ball goes behind him to Marcus Smith drifting sideways on the pass. He is almost certainly through himself if he dummies and runs, but he takes the 100% option rather than the 95% one by putting in a lovely pass to IFW on the wing. Probably would've been a better angle for the conversion had he gone himself, but 'm sure that won't prove important.

Minute 49: Replays show just how good a job MSmith did at 10 in that try. He may've had a shit kicking day, but we wouldn't've got as close as we did without him at fly-half.

Minute 50: Smith learns from his previous kicks that skewed left, but adjusts too far and this one skews out to the right of the posts. 10-15 to the best-dressed team.

New Zealand kick-off and it's a nice one, but Martin's lifting pod are in the right position and he takes with ease. We have a little rumble and then set up a caterpillar for Mitchell to kick from. This one is right back on form for him, making 20m ground and landing about 2m from the touchline - JBarrett catches and gets a face full of Freeman and Underhill, and does incredibly well to lob the ball back inside before he's introduced to the touchline. It lands in Kiwi hands more by luck than judgement and they play into midfield where they're met by the set English defensive line.

For me, that try was our best piece of attacking play for a long long time. As you say, Marcus should have backed himself and probably kicked the points to put us too far ahead in what was such a closr game. No chance he passes if under no pressure for his place. Such is test rugby.

I wonder if quins rarely ever taking the points is hurting his test place-kicking game. Hopefully we get to a position where he can kick to the corner against all but the top 2 or 3 teams in any case.

I'm surprised you think we were holding on a bit in the first half though. Sure we got the rub of the green on a couple of decisions, but i thought we were in the ascendency. We conceded 2 tries from poor deployment of the rush defence, the first a Mitchell error and the second an Earl one - although in fairness could have been anyone. We tighten those up (which I'm sure we will over the coming games and against weaker opposition) and we look a pretty hard team to score against.

Need to move on from Slade though, he's a real problem at this stage.

The Reece try is because the backline is poorly aligned. Furbank should be pushing across behind the ruck quicker and then Smith should be in line with the centres. Instead Smith is in line with McKenzie and Furbank is still on the blindside. Easy to say when you aren't knees deep in a test match but they've got to be quicker into position. If Smith is in position he gets a shot at the tackle on Reece.

I recollection of Slade was that he was awful in attack but did the thankless work in defence well. Charging out the line at 13 in that blitz is a ball ache to judge. Get it wrong and the opposition will carve you up. You've got to read the game well. We do need to move on from him but it might take some time to develop another 13 into that role.

[Danno]

This is worth a watch - actually changed one of my bits of m-b-m because he spotted something I didn't:



Puja

Which bit Puja?

[Puja]

This is worth a watch - actually changed one of my bits of m-b-m because he spotted something I didn't:



Puja

Which bit Puja?

The line Smith ran to open the hole for CCS, shortly before the Feyi-Waboso try. I had originally thought it was just 4-on-3 and Smith did a beautiful job picking the right man - I hadn't spotted that he threatened Taylor first to open the hole wider.

Puja

[Danno]

This is worth a watch - actually changed one of my bits of m-b-m because he spotted something I didn't:



Puja

Which bit Puja?

The line Smith ran to open the hole for CCS, shortly before the Feyi-Waboso try. I had originally thought it was just 4-on-3 and Smith did a beautiful job picking the right man - I hadn't spotted that he threatened Taylor first to open the hole wider.

Puja

Easy miss given the gap that opened. Plus I think anyone would have to rewatch that around 30 times before they noticed much outside the pure sex of that pass

[Puja]

Minute 56: NZ show a little tip-on pass, which they used far too rarely, and this time make ground with a forward carry as SBarrett bumps Mitchell. Telea picks and goes, and gains a chunk of ground because Itoje is trying to rip the ball rather than bring him down. Eventually he fails and Telea hits the deck - Dan is over jackalling and there's a very dodgy clearout to his head that NZ are lucky doesn't get death-by-slow-motioned by the TMO. England respond by tackling Savea around the neck in the next phase, so honours are even and the refereeing team are just not stepping in today.

NZ are back to one-out runners not going anywhere, so it's back to McKenzie for another big boot. It's solidly average and Smith can gather centre-field, but Reece makes it better with an excellent chase and tackle to cut him down early. England show very little inclination to stay on their feet at the ruck, and then the next phase sees Dan tackled around the neck and I'm wondering if the officiating team have gone off for a cup of tea and nobody's noticed yet. Maybe they've nominated this one minute as The Purge?

Mitchell box-kicks and it doesn't get the height that he would've wanted, so there's no contest and BBarrett can fling it infield to McKenzie who goes for a run. He takes on Lawrence, but gets his ankles taken by Underhill and a big shoulder from Lawrence to smash him backwards. I was very worried watching live that that was a shoulder charge to the head straight red card, especially when McKenzie got up with a bloodied nose, but replays show it was a legal tackle and connecting with the chest. Very upright though - need to show better technique than that.

Minute 57: Lawrence gets excited about the tackle and goes to counter-ruck, but he's never in control and a slight nudge, from Underhill getting up, sees him tumbling around the side and off his feet and killing the ball. Easy penalty for the ref, silly one from Lawrence, but he knows what he's done and apologises to the team as he walks back.

Minute 58: NZ kick down to deep within England's half, but go for the front at the lineout and Itoje is paying attention. He gets up first and taps it back. Mitchell reacts well to catch and pass quickly before getting thumped and Earl gets a run at a broken defence, beating one and making 20m in his best bit of play all game. Itoje and Dan pile over the ruck to provide instant ball and we pass it out to MSmith... who kicks it away. Massively disappointing decision here - we've got a full backline, New Zealand are in disarray and retreating and yet Smith sits back and plays safe. It's a long way out, but a pass from Smith to Lawrence makes that a 4-on-3 and it's IFW being set free down the wing - that's a try-scoring opportunity missed. We'd be screaming if that were Farrell kicking away front-foot turnover ball after a break like that.

To add insult to injury, it's not a very good kick either. I'd forgive him if it was a 50:22, but it bounces into the middle of the 22 where BBarrett can sweep it up and clear into touch - not a great kick from Barrett The Eldest, but he'll be happier than if he'd had Feyi-Waboso running at him in space.

England lineout about 28m out - thrown to the back and it's not a great throw by Dan, but NZ don't compete hard, so it's safe. Tapped down to... aw fuck, Spencer's on, here we go. we pass into midfield and do a training ground move of Lawrence cutting a hard line and the ball being pulled back for IFW to crash it up wider. He makes decent ground in contact and TCurry runs a hard line next phase to make more metres.

Minute 59: Spencer goes back the other way and Baxter does a lovely job of carrying to the line and pulling back. Unfortunately Furbank gets caught in two minds and doesn't offload to Earl who is running a hard line off his shoulder, instead going himself. Earl gets tackled by JBarrett (upright and with a clash of heads, no less), but his superior pace into the contact means he was ahead of Furbank by a few centimetres and therefore he is pinged for offside, rather than JBarrett for tackling off the ball. Nothing much different Earl could've done there - shame Furbank decided against the pass, as it would've been a much better carry and a likely red card for NZ.

The ABs kick up to halfway, but there's a lot of fuckery around lineout gaps and the ref stops the play to remonstrate with both teams.

Minute 60: NZ tap off the top and go to midfield, but a decent tackle by Slade stops them. They jack back the other way with Christie at first receiver, but TCurry is up into his passing lane and he panics and turns back inside to sacrifice SBarrett to a double-tackle. NZ going backwards, but rescue some ground with Telea going on a pinballing run and bouncing off three tackles before being snagged.

NZ try the pull-back ball from a forward to get McKenzie some space and he uses it to lob a wide pass over Spencer's outstretched arm. It's Savea and the two faster Barretts going down the wing, but we slowed the pass down long enough to get across and they only just get across halfway before JBarrett is met with Feyi-Waboso driving him into touch. He chucks the ball hopefully back inside and SBarrett rescues it (creating a very satisfying run where Barrett passed to Barrett passed to Barrett). NZ form a ruck and they have gone forwards a total of 3m from the original lineout, which they celebrate by passing it deep and wide and getting knocked back 5m by the England blitz defence.

[Puja]

For me, that try was our best piece of attacking play for a long long time. As you say, Marcus should have backed himself and probably kicked the points to put us too far ahead in what was such a closr game. No chance he passes if under no pressure for his place. Such is test rugby.

I wonder if quins rarely ever taking the points is hurting his test place-kicking game. Hopefully we get to a position where he can kick to the corner against all but the top 2 or 3 teams in any case.

I'm surprised you think we were holding on a bit in the first half though. Sure we got the rub of the green on a couple of decisions, but i thought we were in the ascendency. We conceded 2 tries from poor deployment of the rush defence, the first a Mitchell error and the second an Earl one - although in fairness could have been anyone. We tighten those up (which I'm sure we will over the coming games and against weaker opposition) and we look a pretty hard team to score against.

Need to move on from Slade though, he's a real problem at this stage.

I think Smith made the right call to go for a 100% try - just imagine if he'd gone himself and got held up by a wonder tackle? We'd never forgive him!

There is definitely something about Dunedin that's weird for place kickers. I remember Wilkinson having a mare there back in 2011 - it's something about the roof and the air when the stadium's packed. I'll only start to worry if it happens again this week.

Agreed in general on Slade, although he was superb in the Ireland and France games in the 6N. Hopefully England are getting Freeman to shadow him in everything he does, cause I think he's the long-term answer there.

Puja

[Puja]

Minute 61: New Zealand go long with the boot and it's too long again. Smith gathers with ease and feeds Furbank coming at pace. NZ make a good double tackle, but we're quick over and it's decent attacking ba... oh, yeah. Spencer's on. He ambles up to the ruck with no great ambition and then takes his time passing to a forward pod to get a caterpillar set up. NZ compete and think they have a sniff of it, but Abuladze says no. They then continue to try and fuck about and get a penalty given, which Smith kicks down into NZ's half.

Minute 62: Front ball at the lineout, down to Spencer, who whips a good long pass to Smith running onto it. He dummies inside to Underhill, but goes himself and makes ground through contact. The next phase we send TCurry up and he meets a double tackle from both NZ props and sent back to where he came from - shouldn't've been running at them! NZ look to compete and there is some comedic cheating as Tu'ungafasi blocks Spencer off the ball, Taylor comes in at the side, Jacobson uses hands in the ruck. We retaliate with going straight off our feet and the ball does come back our way, but it's slooooow.

Smith looks like he's dropped back in the pocket for a 50m drop-goal attempt, but he doesn't even look to attempt it, instead jinking left and going for a chip and chase. There's not really space there, but then there were no options for England from that position so he may as well roll the dice. Gods help me, but Spencer, that was actually the time to slow things down and put up a box-kick to compete!

McKenzie takes the chip, but Smith does really well as the only chaser to just about keep hold of him in the tackle. McKenzie flings it loosely infield, but it goes to JBarrett who kicks long to touch and it'll be an England lineout about 12m inside our half.

Minute 63: Lineout to Martin in the middle and a much better throw from Dan. We set a really good maul and roll it around the corner, but Dan panics when Tu'ungafasi is (illegally) next to him and breaks away, running sideways to get hit back by the NZ defence. Should've kept that in.

Spencer slows it down and goes for the box kick - it's a decent one and Feyi-Waboso can compete, but McKenzie does a superb job of claiming that one.

Minute 64: NZ run one forward runner phase and get stopped behind the gainline, so BBarrett steps into 10 and puts in an absolutely gorgeous low kick that kicks on from the bounces and just keeps rolling away from Furbank. He cuts it off just before it goes for a deep 50:22, but he thinks he has less time than he does and puts in a panicked turn-and-kick that barely gets outside the 22. The nearest Kiwi was 10m away from him and he's got Smith inside in support - it'd be a long pass, but it's a massive counter-attack opportunity if he throws that. Needed someone to let him know that he had time there.

Coles is on for Underhill, a substitution that I do not get at all. Underhill has looked indefatigable so far and his tackling has been incredibly important to us - should not have been coming off until much later IMO.

NZ test their new hooker Aumua with a throw to the very back, which he nails, giving them great attacking ball. It doesn't get them much as Sevu Reece is stopped on the gainline by Smith and TCurry. Unfortunately the next phase sees Earl tackle Aumua and then get trapped under him. Aumua buys the penalty by refusing to place the ball and acting like there's no way he can get around Earl, but Benny the 8 has got to do better there. I know a lot of people were grumpy with that penalty saying, "What's he meant to do?" but even with a big man lying on you, you've got to at least act like you're trying to get away, sell something to the referee. Earl lies back and thinks of England and we'd be cross if that one wasn't given for us.

NZ attempt to use the advantage and do some offloading to try and let McKenzie go on a run, but Coles is hunting him down and strips the ball, so it's back to the penalty.

Minute 65: McKenzie gets away with one here, as his kick is definitely not taken within 60 seconds of the penalty award...

[Puja]

Minute 66: Cause it happens in this minute instead. It's only about 5 seconds beyond the 60, but doesn't really give him room to complain later. Straight through the middle.

We exchange one Smith for another at 10, but it's still Furbank doing the kick-offs. SBarrett goes up in a pod, but Itoje is around the other side again waiting when he comes down, and this time rips the ball free. He's unlucky as it flies loose and goes into Telea's hands, letting NZ recover and reset. Christie box-kicks and this is a good one - Furbank catches but gets met by JBarrett inspecting his ribs. Quick ball, but Spencer takes an extra second or two over the ball for no apparent reason, before sacrificing Dan to the NZ tight defence.

Minute 67: The ball is at the back of the ruck, Spencer has his hands on it, ready to pass and yet it is a full 3 seconds before the ball is moved away. TCurry puts in a nice offload before the tackle to send Itoje into weak shoulders, but Spencer has no interest in playing the ball. It is available at 66.09 and he kicks it at 66.17... actually, I'm going to start a counter for that (given that we've apparently stopped hunting NZ fly-halves for sport in this second half).

Cumulative time where the ball is playable at the back of a breakdown but Spencer does not play it: 12s

The kick is shit as well - far too long, 20m from touch, and frankly the only threat to NZ recovering possession is that BBarrett and McKenzie both try to catch it at once. BBarrett wins the argument and then has time to run around Dan and make a break that we do well to stop within 15 metres. The ball is then played back to McKenzie who is already in the pocket and kicking long. His one is poor as well, as it goes to FSmith without a Kiwi even being in the same half of the pitch as him. He puts up a high ball, but it's poor as well - going too long and giving JBArrett an easy catch. However, we do get a highlight as Furbank gets himself back on the list, just after I said we appeared to've stopped doing it:

Hit On McKenzie/JBarrett Which Isn't Technically Late But Is Definitely To Put Him Off: Slade x1, Underhill x2, Furbank x2

The ball does go to BBarrett, who again kicks poorly and straight down FSmith's throat. What is going on in this minute?! FSmith finally puts us out of our misery, by making a halfway decent kick. It finds grass and then demonstrates the inarguable truth that the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you to BBarrett, kicking on into the 22, and then dancing away from him like an excitable puppy every time he goes to pick it up.

Minute 68: The ball eventually comes to heel just off the NZ line and BBarrett manages to kick for touch about 27m out.

England attacking lineout and this is the big chance. Our drill is solid to Itoje at the back and we form a maul which is solid but not spectacular. It's clearly not going anywhere in particular and Abuladze says, "That's once! That's once, stopped, 9!". The ball is at the back, Spencer has hands on it, so let's start the clock at 67.47. England move forward half a metre unstably and the front of our maul collapses. 67.50 and Spencer takes his hands off the ball to flap and protest at the referee. There is clearly no offence.

SBarrett then commits several offences by coming in from the side, diving off his feet onto the collapsed maul, and grabbing the ball. It turns into a mess and the referee gives a scrum to New Zealand in an absolutely shocking bit of decision-making. Truly abysmal.

However, it should never have happened. Spencer had his hands on the ball. He had 3 whole seconds in which he could've taken it out and, even when it did jerk forward and collapse, he then took his hands off it to complain to the referee about NZ taking down the maul WHICH DIDN'T EVEN HAPPEN, rather than play the ball. Fucking atrocious.

Cumulative time where the ball is playable at the back of a breakdown but Spencer does not play it: 15s

Minute 69: Shot of the England coaching box during that turnover. Borthwick and Wigglesworth look the epitome of "I'm not cross, I'm just disappointed." Still, they've picked the useless fucker again this week, so they've made their own bed.

Tu'ungafasi and Cole are fucking around at the scrum, so nothing happens this minute.

Minute 70: Newell is over-extended and lowered to the floor by Baxter, but it's on the side of the see-no-evil touch judge who didn't pick De Groot in the first half, so we go with a reset. Everyone is interminably slow, so no further play in this minute either. This is much quicker to do the recap - let's have this for the rest of the game!

[Puja]

Minute 71: Ooft. No egregious unlawful shenanigans here - Newell gets the jump on Baxter (maybe with a little bit of a twisting of his arm) and gets in and under him. At the same time Cole has overextended on the engage and Tu'ungafasi drives back at him hard. Baxter is fucked, Cole is going backwards and NZ complete the job with an 8 man drive that just powers through us. Full respect to the ABs - that was a proper dicking and they deservedly get penalty advantage.

Spencer does well to interfere with Christie and disrupt the ball - it still gets out to JBarrett who attempts a Le Garrec pass, but it hits the floor and Telea can't get away from England defenders, so we're back for the scrum penalty. NZ kick it down for a lineout on England's 10m line.

Minute 72: Maro Itoje is in excellent position in tracking the NZ jumper and his confidence and shouting puts them right off going up against him. Unfortunately Aumua is already in his throwing movement having been triggered by his jumpers and ends up dummying and then having to throw it in anyway, resulting in an England free-kick. I feel for you Asafo - been there myself. Bloody jumpers.

I actually wrote "England scrum there", but first real use of the law trial, as I think we absolutely would've gone for the scrum there if we'd had the option. Instead, FSmith pumps it high, but it's again too long, with the main danger once again being two Kiwis fighting each other for the ball. I'm fairly certain it does go forward there, but the ref lets it go and NZ have the ball. They set a caterpillar and take their time over the box-kick, but I'm not counting theirs because they have the marginally better position of actually being IN THE FUCKING LEAD.

Minute 73: Christie finally unleashes the kick and it's a lovely effort - JBarrett getting up and punching it out of Furbank's catch like a goalkeeper. They recover the ball, run a phase and then McKenzie puts in a glorious kick over the head of Freeman towards the 22 - Freeman gets back, but can't take it cleanly. By the time he's got it under control, he's got three All Blacks in his face and does very well to get any kind of kick away.

It lands on halfway and McKenzie catches and passes for BBarrett to run onto. He thinks he sees space over the top and goes for a chip and chase, only to find Baxter doing a smart job of making sure he stops moving while in the way. It's not illegal cause he's not making any movement towards the chaser, but he has definitely made sure about where he stops tracking across.

Furbank has it covered anyway and we set up a ruck, but his ball presentation is terrible and we're lucky Spencer is paying attention when it spills out. Martin carries up the crap ball and we then run another phase to get ourselves happy for the box-kick. Spencer then spends an interminable amount of time organising this caterpillar, so I'm starting the meter again at 72.54. NZ claim that Cole isn't bound to the caterpillar and the ball is therefore out, which is probably because Cole clearly isn't bound to the caterpillar and the ball is definitely out, but the referee disagrees and we get to watch the Spencer show as he moves the ball back centimetre by centimetre until it's *perfect*.

Cumulative time where the ball is playable at the back of a breakdown but Spencer does not play it: 20s

Minute 74: The kick is, once again, too fucking long, and McKenzie gets to catch with 5 metres between him and the nearest English chaser. I get that Randall fucked up three box-kicks in a row against Japan by slicing them so they barely went forwards, but this is surely just as bad? We won back two of those kicks against Japan and at least he did them quickly!

McKenzie goes on a run with his free ball and NZ carry well through three phases to get nearly up to halfway, before Christie puts up a kick. Furbank is comfortably under it, but Reece does a superb job, demonstrating that he can hit something that's not a domestic partner, with a perfectly timed and placed tackle that levels the Flight-Lieutenant as soon as he takes the ball. He's up and over the ball and probably is owed the penalty, but Freeman does a terrific job to get over and compete too, wresting the ball back to our side and getting us just enough grace to get the forwards over it.

Martin carries up and Dan makes absolutely no effort to stay on his feet in support, but we get away with it and set another caterpillar.

Cumulative time where the ball is playable at the back of a breakdown but Spencer does not play it: 25s

Minute 75: The kick is, shockingly enough, too long, but it's marginally better, as JBarrett does at least get tackled a couple of seconds after the ball arrives. New Zealand go through a couple of phases - our defence is less aggressive now, possibly because we're tired, possibly because we took our two strongest-tackling back rows off, and the forward carries aren't going regularly backwards anymore and sometimes even make ground. However, this minute is mostly spent with NZ failing to make any noticeable impact, so Christie decides he's going to put another high ball up on Furbank. This one isn't quite perfect as it just crosses the line of the 22 and allows Furbank to call the mark, but Reece still marmalises Furbank on general principles.

[Puja]

Minute 76: Furbank kicks well, finding touch on our 10m line. We haven't seen the inside of the NZ half in the last 5 minutes though. Losing this game through aimlessly kicking the ball back to NZ and gifting them possession and territory. Sleightholme is on for Feyi-Waboso, although I'm not sure what he's going to be expected to do considering we haven't passed to a winger since minute 59.

New Zealand throw to the back and build a maul, which does look like it's going somewhere, but Coles does and excellent job of working his way through to the ball carrier to force NZ to take it out, and then reaching through to slap the ball (backwards) out of Christie's hands as he winds up to pass. It should be a turnover, but sadly the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you and it hits the deck and just bounces straight back into Christie's hands like a basketball.

Minute 77: Christie passes to Reece who has space created by England trying to react to the loose ball, and he makes a few metres down the blind side. NZ run one-out runners five rucks in a row - they're not going anywhere, but they don't particularly have to, as they're winning. Eventually they get a lucky break, as Coles puts in an incredibly lazy no-arms chop tackle and the ref gives advantage. They pass it back to McKenzie who looks for the cross-field kick - it's well placed and Telea can run onto it, but Furbank has timed his run well and clatters him just after he catches it. Telea hurls it inside to avoid taking it into touch and BBarrett gathers the loose ball, runs sideways for a few seconds, then kicks it over the top - England gather and touch down, but it's all time out of the game and now we come back for the eminently kickable penalty.

Minute 78: So, onto the number crunching. The penalty is whistled for at 77.56, the mark is set by the referee at 77.08 and, very leisurely, McKenzie points at the posts at 77.19, which is when his minute begins. The ref gives him "Twenty seconds, number 10" at 77.58 (he's early!)...

Minute 79: ...and then "Ten seconds left!" at 78.10. I was screaming at the television when watching this live, as I was incensed at how long it'd taken since the penalty was awarded, but wasn't expecting anything to come of it. At 78.16, Abuladze can be heard saying "Let's go, 10", and at 78.19, just as McKenzie is beginning the first manoeuvres of his run-up, the ref blows his whistle and gives England the scrum. He's punctual, but he's not wrong and it is immensely satisfying to watch Earl run up, pick up the ball and toss McKenzie his kicking tee.

Course, it'd've been more satisfying if we'd actually won, but it's still funny.

Minute 80: More time is wasted setting up the scrum, but we're eventually ready and it's not a great scrum for us. Baxter sets up in a very tired position and gets shoved back by Newell - he recovers well to limit the damage, but meanwhile Tu'ungafasi is giving Cole a tuning on the other side. Aumua has stood up in the middle and I wouldn't blame the ref for resetting that, but he says ball is at the back and play away. It is technically at the back, but our second row are on their knees, the scrum has wheeled, half the front row is standing and the NZ loosehead is now scrummaging against Tom Curry. Spencer attempts to obey orders, but he's got the NZ back row standing between him and his 10, whereupon the ref penalises them for breaking from the scrum early. It's certainly *an* offence that's occurred, but that's more a mess than an actual restart and it seems odd to ping NZ there when there's so much else going on.

Actually on replay, it's not even penalty for breaking from the scrum early (which they did), but for Jacobson fucking about on England's side of the ruck and preventing the clear-out. Again, technically correct, but the whole thing was a mess.

We'll not complain though and FSmith kicks it down to the NZ 10m line for one last go.

[Puja]

Minute 81: England go to the front and tap down to Spencer, who notably turns his back to play a right handed pass instead of sweeping it off his left. Not encouraging from a 9! FSmith runs the usual Wiggy move, playing the ball behind the first runner to find Earl arcing around - he's tackled on the gainline and we recover the ball. Spencer plays away, but his pickup is scrappy and it slows things down enough that Dan overruns, so he passes behind him to FSmith again, who lays it off to Freeman on the burst. NZ tackle well and we're again struggling to get over the 10m line, but the ball is quick... and Spencer isn't.

Cumulative time where the ball is playable at the back of a breakdown but Spencer does not play it: 21s

Earl is fed into a set defence and NZ compete hard for the ball, but we just about get it back. Once again, Spencer has hands on ball and...

Cumulative time where the ball is playable at the back of a breakdown but Spencer does not play it: 23s

The ball is passed (slowly) to FSmith, who is faced with Kiwis charging up. He pulls it out the back to Furbank, which is an incredibly poor decision - there's no disguise on it, so the ABs defence just ignore all the forward options and carry on to press Furbank. It's just moving the problem to a situation two metres behind most of the forward pack.

Furbank decides not to shovel shit and instead attempts to drive through Vaa'i - it doesn't go great and he's caught behind the gainline. Vaa'i goes for the ball and loses his balance, before being driven into by his own man and flumping over the top. Abuladze has a coin toss as to whether his millisecond on the ball trumps him flopping off his feet and gives the penalty to New Zealand. Could have gone either way - to me it very much looks like he's gone off his feet so quickly that there's no way you can give holding on there, but I'm also aware we got a few iffy decisions out of him and I'm not sure I would've liked the emotional experience of FSmith looking to kick a penalty from 48m out, on the angle, under the Dunedin roof.

Really does feel like a missed opportunity though.

[Puja]

So, how many of my initial impressions held up?

NZ had far less control over the first half than I thought. Our defence *was* incredible and wasn't ever in danger outside of the Reece try (and it could be argued that, had Marler not been injured, it would've held up there too). New Zealand basically had to give up playing in the second half and there was one stage where they were getting whistled by their own supporters for kicking it away.

Spencer was an utter liability and taking Mitchell off was a downgrade on our kicking game and our attacking game, both for the speed of getting the ball away and for the danger he posed to the ABs when he ran. They just ignored Spencer in that last attack, and with good reason.

Right now, FSmith < MSmith and it's not even close. He'll come good, but his callowness showed in that last attack.

The ref was less than fine - first bad game I've seen him have though, and everyone's allowed an off-day.

Speaking of off-days, Earl was poor, but not as bad as I thought and did get better in the second half. He's got much better in him, and hopefully he'll show it tomorrow.


Sorry that all took so long - I was away from home last weekend, so couldn't start until Sunday night and then there were a few other things that got in the way between times. Should hopefully be more punctual with tomorrow's, albeit I won't have a deadline for that one!

Finally, thank you so much to those who contributed to my 40th birthday fund. I am made-up that you enjoy my ramblings on here enough to actually donate money and I'm hugely grateful to you all.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Thanks Puja. Excellent read as per usual.

[Which Tyler]

Thanks for doing these again Puja - I'm personally rugby.d out for the year, but I do intend to get around to reading this, and this morning's match, despite watching one half across the two matches.

[Mikey Brown]

You set yourself a ridiculous task providing that much detail with a weeks turnaround and a life to live. I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t have motivation for the next test but I’d definitely be reading it.

[Puja]

You set yourself a ridiculous task providing that much detail with a weeks turnaround and a life to live. I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t have motivation for the next test but I’d definitely be reading it.

Thank you very much - there will definitely be a test 2 m-b-m, but I haven't had motivation to start this weekend after the disappointment of the loss, so it will begin on Monday.

Puja