New Zealand 24 England 17
Marcus Smith admitted England had allowed another glorious opportunity to topple New Zealand slip away in a 24-17 defeat at Eden Park.
Tries by Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman, set up by kicks from Smith, helped Steve Borthwick’s men build a 17-13 lead heading into the final quarter, but the arrival of Beauden Barrett off the bench ignited the All Blacks.
New Zealand finished the match strongly to complete a 2-0 series victory having won the first Test 16-15 with the rivals meeting again at Twickenham on November 2nd.
Smith, who kicked two conversions and a penalty, said fine margins were the difference between the teams.
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“For me it was just the small moments. Eden Park is a historic place and we had the belief we could do something special,” Smith told Sky Sports.
“It was probably the small moments – a touch at the breakdown, a few wrong decisions on the edges from myself – that turned the tie in the All Blacks’ favour.
“When they’re ahead, they’re obviously a very successful team and it’s hard to wrestle momentum back. Tough one to take.
“We’re building to something and the belief we have is growing. On another day we get the result here, or the result last week.
“Fair play to New Zealand, they’re a tough team to beat. We’ll give them a good go in the autumn.”
England dominated territory and possession in the third quarter but could not engineer the points needed to put the All Blacks away at a point in the game when they were struggling for composure.
The tourists will look back on George Martin giving away a needless free-kick at a lineout and Jamie George fumbling as an attack gathered pace – both close to the whitewash – as key moments.
“It’s tough. We’ve shown some improvement in the way we’re playing the game but this wasn’t good enough at the end of the day,” second row Maro Itoje said.
“In the second half we were not as accurate as we wanted to be. We gave away a few too many penalties and we gave them easy points and easy territory. When you’re playing against a good team you can’t really do that.
“We gave them backfield opportunities to run it back to them and Beauden Barrett and the rest of them are good players. We live and we learn. We’re only going to get better for these experiences.”
New Zealand captain Scott Barrett admitted the All Blacks were forced to show character in both matches.
“I’m hugely proud of the boys to hold on and win the arm wrestle and finish off a good performance,” Barrett said.
“Test matches certainly test your character and we had to dig deep there right until the last minute. Well done to England, they’ve had two strong Test matches against us.”
Australia 36 Wales 28
Winger Filipo Daugunu scored a try in each half to help Australia claim a 36-28 win over struggling Wales and sweep the series 2-0 in a rainy test in Melbourne.
Daugunu crossed first and last for the home side who continued their positive start under new coach Joe Schmidt.
The Wallabies also had tries from scrumhalf Jake Gordon and Allan Alaalatoa, the prop scoring the first five-pointer of his 69-test career.
“We’re enjoying our football at the moment,” said Wallabies replacement scrumhalf Nic White.
“This support, honestly, it just makes a difference. This week in Melbourne it is ordinary conditions but people come out and it looks great.”
Dewi Lake scored two tries from the back of mauls in the opening half for Wales, while Liam Williams and Rio Dyer crossed after the break to keep them in the game.
But an undisciplined Wales ultimately slumped to their ninth successive defeat, heaping further pressure on coach Warren Gatland.
The Welsh are now only one defeat away from their record losing streak of 10 under Steve Hansen in 2003.
Pre-game rain showers foretold a contest of hard graft over skills but a piece of Andrew Kellaway magic conjured the opening try for the Wallabies.
From deep in defence, Kellaway chipped and chased down his own ball, tapped it down to Fraser McReight who bolted half the length of the field before dishing wide to Daugunu who crossed at the right corner.
From there, the hosts charged to a 17-0 lead before the half-hour mark, with Gordon swooping on a ball spilled by Cameron Winnett then stepping through two Welsh defenders on the way to a second try.
The Wallabies’ fast start was squandered by poor maul defence, though, as Lake rumbled over for a pair of tries from near identical lineout drives.
The second came four minutes from the break and straight after Wallabies lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto drew a yellow card for head high contact on prop Archie Griffin.
Wales trailed 23-14 but closed the gap to two points seven minutes after the restart.
With another strong maul they muscled the ball forward and after bashing away at the goal line for a few phases, Wales had their third try when winger Liam Williams burst through left of the posts.
With a drought breaking win within reach, Wales handed possession and momentum back to the home side with a needless ruck penalty.
The Welsh foiled a couple of lineout drives but could not stop replacement prop Alaalatoa who burrowed over for a pick-and-go try.
Williams then served up Daugunu’s second try on a platter with a howling mistake.
Jumping at the touchline to keep a Lolesio penalty kick in play, he tapped the ball down to a charging Daugunu who cantered over unopposed.
Wales were quick to recover, though, capitalising on a Wallabies error when a Nic White box kick was blocked by Christ Tshiunza.
Dyer gathered the ball and beat three tacklers in an exhilarating dart down the right touch-line for a try in the 69th minute but it was to be Wales’ final flourish as the hosts defended strongly to the finish.
