England's demoralised dirt-trackers were last night told to expect a long recovery process after the latest shambolic Southern Hemisphere tour display. The rampaging New Zealand Maoris mauled them 62-14, making it 15 games unbeaten since Gavin Hastings's 1993 British Lions won a Wellington thriller.
And while Maoris captain Errol Brain sympathised with England's desperate plight - five successive defeats, 270 points and 38 tries conceded - he offered a brutally frank assessment.
"To develop players, you need experienced guys around them, and England haven't had that out here," he said.
"I think some of the England players will take a long time to recover - they will probably go home shell-shocked. To be honest, I expected more from them.
"We'd anticipated a torrid time in the set pieces, but it never came, and I also found it bizarre that a dangerous player like Spencer Brown hardly got possession."
By the time Richmond wing Brown grabbed a 63rd minute consolation try, England had leaked another half century, their fourth in five starts following Australia, New Zealand Academy and All Blacks.
Some of the considerable excess baggage could be off-loaded when England leave for South Africa next Sunday, with a possibility that they will only take 25 or 26 players, possibly jettisoning ten or more.
Assistant coach John Mitchell had rallied the troops by claiming Eden Park Test places were up for grabs next Saturday but only Brown, Captain Tony Diprose and Jos Baxendall responded.
Once again first-up tackles were considered optional - England missing 24 to the Maoris' four - and tries flowed through Norman Berryman (2) Roger Randle, Adrian Cashmore, Tony Marsh, Rhys Duggan, Dallas Seymour, Jim Coe and Tony Brown.
For valiant Diprose the experience had become all too familiar, given that he was skipper when Australia posted 76 points and New Zealand's Academy graduated with 50.
"It is very disappointing for all the players, you go into every game seeking a win, not to concede 50 points. But we didn't have the ball for 20 minutes and our first-up tackling let us down."
Former Ireland coach Brian Ashton, supervising the team for their final mid-week game, offered a typically straightforward, clear verdict on where England had been so comprehensively outplayed.
"Guys in this part of the world have a different concept of how to play the game," he said.
"They produce width across the pitch, and it then becomes a different ball game because if you miss one-on-one tackles, you will be punished."
For England manager Roger Uttley, who had endured a difficult 72 hours with Danny Grewcock's dismissal and Ian Jones's citing to keep him busy, Rotorua proved another testing occasion.
"The inadequacies of the English game have been exposed, and lessons have got to be taken on board," he said. "Unless we do that, then England will flounder. "We seem to be limited in our methods of breaking down defences, which doesn't seem to be a problem for our opponents, who enjoy far more sensible time for physical preparation and rest."
To complete another miserable England experience, flanker Richard Pool-Jones required X-Rays on an ankle injury which threatens to end his tour.
New Zealand Maori: Cashmore; Randle, Berryman, Marsh, Gibson; Brown, Duggan; Npia, McFarland, Meens, Coe, Flavell, Parker, Seymour, Brain.
England: Stimpson; Brown, Baxendell, Ravenscroft, Moore; King, Richards; Windo, Greening, Crompton, Fidler, Sturnham, PoolJones, Moody, Diprose. Replacements: Beim for King, Benton for Richards.
