England magic stuns All Blacks

Published: Saturday, 1. December, 2012 in category Southern Hemisphere

England handed New Zealand their only defeat of the year, dominating the world champions on their way to a convincing 38-21 victory at Twickenham.

The home side took a 12-0 lead into the half-time break thanks to the trusty boot of flyhalf Owen Farrell, and showed good composure to deal with two quick All Black tries at the start of the second half.

With a slender 15-14 lead, England suddenly turned on the style and quickly ran in three tries of their own to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

It has been a long year from the All Blacks and it showed in a somewhat lethargic display, but they will still be bitterly disappointed at stumbling at the final hurdle against England who recorded a record victory over the world champions.

More to follow...

The scorers:

For England:
Tries: Barritt, Ashton, Tuilagi
Pens: Farrell 5, Burns
Con: Farrell
DG: Farrell

For New Zealand:
Tries: Savea 2, Read
Cons: Carter 2, Cruden

Teams:

England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Jonathan Joseph.

New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Victor Vito, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ben Smith.

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)