International Round-up/New Zealand - 36 England - 3: Clive Woodward insists he will not over-react to England's heaviest defeat for six years but a nightmare scenario now looms for him. Since March the world champions have hurtled to earth quicker than a 19-stone bungee jumper and bouncing back in Auckland and Brisbane is going to require every ounce of available energy.
Even Woodward accepted yesterday that Saturday's Dunedin debacle had been "a shock" and "a thumping" and could only agree that several of his players appear to be mentally drained husks of their former selves at the end of a unique year.
"It's been a long season and some of these guys are not at their best," admitted Woodward. "The whole team is a yard off the pace and we've got to freshen it up. I've brought 31 players and I fully intend to use them."
Manifestly, however, the coach has headaches even he cannot relieve overnight. England, no longer ranked number one in the world, have now lost three of their last four tests with the resurgent All Blacks and the Wallabies still to play. What Woodward envisaged as a fruitful Kiwi visit is in danger of going severely pear-shaped.
If the post-World Cup period was always going to be tricky, no one imagined things would unravel this badly. A 30-3 half-time deficit rightly suggests England showed character in the second half but they missed more tackles inside the first minute than in an entire night in Wellington last year. Far from winning with six forwards, as last June, England's full complement of eight were also badly outmuscled around the tackle area and the lineout was again a major letdown.
On this evidence, the artful Graham Henry had his fingers crossed when he claimed the Super 12 was producing powder-puff forwards and the ever-honest Josh Lewsey even suggested one or two Englishmen might have believed their own pre-match publicity. They reckoned without Keith Robinson, the Waikato lock who hunts wild pigs for recreation; as his namesake the England forwards coach Andy Robinson noted, the home forwards "hunted as a pack" and England were staring down the barrel from the outset.
Woodward may be right in claiming that, long-term, experiences likes this are "priceless" in terms of enrolling young players into the school of hard knocks but the ominous contrast between their record 64-22 thrashing here in 1998 and their latest thumbscrew treatment at the "House of Pain" is that England's top guns were pretty much all present, Jason Robinson and Jonny Wilkinson apart.
Few survived with their confidence unscarred, although Lewsey was always brave and Steve Borthwick and Joe Worsley both improved their chances of starting this weekend after Danny Grewcock, sent off here six years ago, and Chris Jones had been unceremoniously hauled off at half-time.
The All Blacks played with spirit and aggression but, once again, England did not assist their own cause.
The most obvious instance was when the referee, Jonathan Kaplan, reversed a penalty to England in front of the All Blacks posts after Ben Cohen had complained too vehemently about an earlier offence, although, to be fair, New Zealand were already 17-3 up and motoring by then.
If a subdued Charlie Hodgson plays 70 tests, for example, he is unlikely to face an outhalf with as much poise, pace and skill as Carlos Spencer, scorer of the first All Black try. Doug Howlett's quicksilver try was preceded by another turnover and more poor tackling assisted Joe Rokocoko's 18th try in 13 tests, converted by the immaculate Daniel Carter, who finished with 21 points.
New Zealand, to rub it in, even finished ahead in the fisticuffs stakes, leaving Woodward, as ever, to claim first prize for optimism. "I thought we could win on Saturday and I still think we can win this weekend."
His task now is to convince his players, even though New Zealand have not lost a test at Eden Park for 10 years.
NEW ZEALAND: M Muliaina (Auckland); D Howlett (Auckland), T Umaga (Wellington, capt), D Carter (Canterbury), J Rokocoko (Auckland); C Spencer (Auckland), J Marshall (Canterbury); K Meeuws (Auckland), K Mealamu (Auckland), C Hayman (Otago), C Jack (Canterbury), K Robinson (Waikato), J Gibbes (Waikato), R McCaw (Canterbury), X Rush (Auckland). Replacements: M Holah (Waikato) for McCaw (62 mins), N Evans (North Harbour) for Rokocoko (64 mins), S Tuitupou (Auckland) for Carter, T Woodcock (North Harbour) for Hayman (both 70 mins). Tries: Spencer, Rokocoko, Howlett. Cons: Carter 3. Pens: Carter 5.
ENGLAND: J Lewsey (Wasps); J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), M Tindall (Bath), M Catt (London Irish), B Cohen (Northampton); C Hodgson (Sale), M Dawson (Northampton); T Woodman (Sale), S Thompson (Northampton), J White (Leicester), S Shaw (Wasps), D Grewcock (Bath), C Jones (Sale), R Hill (Saracens), L Dallaglio (Wasps, capt). Replacements: S Borthwick (Bath) for Grewcock, J Worsley (Wasps) for Jones (both half-time), A Gomarsall (Gloucester) for Dawson (64 mins), S Abbott (Wasps) for Catt (65 mins), M Regan (Leeds) for Thompson, M Stevens (Bath) for White (both 66 mins), Pen: Hodgson.
Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa).
