England's bright new future falls flat

New Zealand 37 England 20

The launch of England’s bright new era fell flat in Auckland as they suffered another mauling at the hands of New Zealand.

Two opportunist tries from debutant winger Topsy Ojo at the end of each half gave the final score a measure of respectability – but England were outclassed by the All Blacks.

Dan Carter was the architect, creating one try for Conrad Smith and scoring another himself as New Zealand rattled up 20 points in 11 first half minutes.

Mils Muliaina and Sitiveni Sivivatu touched down after the interval and Carter finished with 22 points.

Ojo made his Test debut in a side featuring 11 changes. England only retained prop Andrew Sheridan, hooker Lee Mears, captain Steve Borthwick and scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth from the Six Nations win over Ireland in March.

And Sheridan was the only survivor from the World Cup final just eight months ago as stand-in manager Rob Andrew – leading the tour in Martin Johnson’s absence – drew a firm line under the Brian Ashton regime.

Ojo, Wigglesworth, winger David Strettle, full-back Mike Brown and number eight Luke Narraway boasted just 14 caps between them while Charlie Hodgson started his first Test since November 2006 and Olly Barkley returned at inside centre.

The All Blacks came into the game on the back of last weekend’s 21-11 win over Ireland and made one change, with prop Greg Somerville brought in to face Sheridan.

England started with mean determination, chasing the kick-off hard and stripping the ball from All Blacks lock Ali Williams before launching a powerful drive for the line.

Richie McCaw came flying in from the side to concede the penalty but Barkley, handed the kicking duties ahead of Hodgson, pushed his effort wide.

Hodgson and then Barkley pushed New Zealand back into their own half with astute clearances and when Somerville was penalised for not rolling away Barkley slotted the kick to put England ahead.

England’s forwards were enjoying great success in the loose, with Haskell and Narraway combining to win another turnover.

McCaw pounced to tie up Haskell at the back of a scrum and Carter tied the scores with his first penalty shot.

Hooker Andrew Hore fumbled inside his own 22 and New Zealand needed some desperate last-ditch defence from Jerome Kaino to halt Strettle’s dart for the corner.

McCaw was stripped of possession in the tackle and then received a warning from referee Nigel Owens after New Zealand were penalised again for not rolling away.

Barkley was gifted another simple shot at goal to push England ahead – but again it last only minutes.

Tom Palmer and Lee Mears failed to gather the restart cleanly and the All Blacks pounced, with Carter dabbing a neat grubber kick which Conrad Smith collected to score his seventh Test try.

Almost immediately, the swagger returned to New Zealand’s game.

New Zealand scored 20 points in the space of 11 minutes to charge into a commanding lead just past the half-hour. England then had Sheridan sin-binned.

Carter converted a long-range penalty and winger Sivivatu then shredded England’s defence and supplied the offload for Carter to score next to the posts.

Sheridan was then sent to cool off for 10 minutes after referee Owens lost patience with England at the breakdown and Carter landed the penalty to open a 23-6 lead.

Barkley saw a long-range effort of his own drop below the crossbar and England were on the back foot again as Carter looked to prise open their defence again.

But this time Ojo, who had endured a forgettable debut, intercepted the offload and sprinted 80 metres to score in the corner.

Barkley slotted the conversion to drag England back within 10 points at the interval.

Within seven minutes of the restart New Zealand were out of sight. First Nonu, the explosive inside centre, swatted away Hodgson’s weak tackle to send Muliaina over for the All Blacks’ third try.

Then when Narraway failed to hold onto possession, they pounced with characteristic ruthlessness.

Carter and Nonu combined to feed Sivivatu who skipped past a stranded Strettle to score the fourth try.

Hodgson was replaced after just 50 minutes with Jamie Noon introduced to try to bolster the midfield and Barkley switched to fly-half.

With half an hour remaining, Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care replaced Wigglesworth to make his Test debut and Joe Worsley took over from Haskell in the back row.

But England finished with a flourish. Ojo had been a passenger for most of the game but he was alive to Care’s chip forward and sprinted past Sione Lauaki and Sivivatu to score in the corner.