Five things we learned from England vs New Zealand
On Saturday afternoon, New Zealand secured a tight 24-22 win against England for the third consecutive time in 2024. It was a test match for the ages, filled with drama, theatre and world-class skill from both sides. But what did we learn from this epic encounter?
Haka does not need binning:
Whatever you made of Joe Marler’s comments on the Haka during the week, there’s no denying that it brought a lot of hype and discussion around one of rugby’s biggest spectacles.
The drama and atmosphere were palpable inside the stadium as both sides lined up, ready to face off against each other. A chorus of Swing low bellowed out from the rafters of the 80,000 seater stadium, as England made their approach to the halfway line. New Zealand followed suit, and the place went ballistic.
The comments from both camps after the game were full of praise for the atmosphere, and it’s clear that the Haka, whilst not unique to rugby, brings a unique sense of excitement and anticipation to our game and must remain.
Blindside Brilliance:
Jerome Kaino and Courtney Lawes were two of the greatest loose forwards that the game has ever seen, and their retirements have left big holes for their respective nations. However, Saturday’s test showed us that more than adequate replacements have been found.
Saturday’s player of the match, Wallace Sititi, looks like potentially the next future 100-cap All-Black. Son of Semo Sititi, a former Samoa captain, the 22-year-old only made his debut in July; however, he is fast becoming a key cog in Scott Robinson’s team.
He showed outrageous skill to set up the first try, finding Mark Tele’a with a back-handed offload and topped the line breaks stat as well as the second most carries made. He was the clear choice for the Player of the Match award and looks to be proving himself as a real test match animal.
Whilst Sititi took the award, England’s blindside flanker Chandler Cunningham-South also had an outstanding performance. The moment that took the headlines and dominated social media clips was the rib-crunching tackle he made on Tupou Vaa’I in the 33rd minute to force the knock-on.
With tackles like that, he’s reminiscent of prime Courtney, and Cunnigham-South, at 6’4” and 120kg, is exactly the type of dominant forward that England desperately needs moving forward, and it looks as though he has cemented himself in that starting XV
Breaking the blitz:
It was the question on everyone’s lips heading into the game, just how would England defend? Many gave a heavy sigh of relief when Borthwick’s men came out and showed the system wasn’t altering under new defence coach Joe El-Abd, as the blitz remained.
However, it was cleverly exploited by the tactical attacking awareness of New Zealand, and changes may need to be made to stop England from leaking tries so easily.
Beauden Barrett orchestrated the All Blacks defence brilliantly, identifying weak points in the blitz, specifically down the short side, which opened space for Telea’s first try and Jordan’s in the first half.
Ref Mic superiority:
Conversations between referees and players in rugby union are often a unique and special part of our beautiful game. However, unless you are watching on TV or pay an extra £5 in the stadium for a ref link, the majority of the crowd has no idea what is going on with decisions on the pitch.
With rugby being the complex sport that it is, often the crowd has no idea why a decision has been made on the pitch by the referee. The NFL, since 1975, has been using an obvious solution to this problem by having the referee linked up to a wireless microphone so that they can announce decisions to the crowd.
Rugby, in its typical archaic ways, never decided to implement this technology into the game; however, it’s being trialled this Autumn Nations Series, and if Saturday’s fixture was anything to go by, it was certainly a success.
The first instance came when Angus Gardner brought over the All Black’s captain, Scott Barrett, to warn him about too many tackles off the ball. However, the point at which it truly proved its worth was when, following a TMO review, Gardner announced to the crowd he was overturning Beauden Barrett’s try as the review showed there had been an earlier deliberate knock-on by Caleb Clarke.
It was pandemonium inside the Allianz stadium, with the crowd in uproar, everyone clearly understood why the decision was made and backed the England side. If there was any doubt about the ref mic’s introduction, that moment has to have put it to bed.
Magic Marcus:
There is often discussion as to whether or not Marcus Smith is what England need from a test fly-half, with many saying his style of play isn’t suited for the test arena.
However, on Saturday, he certainly silenced those critics with perhaps his most complete performance in the 10 shirt for England against a tier-one nation.
Shaking off the cobwebs from Dunedin, Smith’s boot kept England in the game with four successful penalties in the first half. His interception for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s try put them in the lead for the first time in the game.
Calm and controlled, Smith will be in agony after being brought off by Borthwick, but for anyone watching, it was clear he is fast becoming England’s number one choice for that starting shirt.
