England Player Ratings vs New Zealand
England and New Zealand met at a rainy Twickenham on Saturday afternoon in one of, if not the most anticipated rugby fixture of the last few years, and it certainly delivered on all of the promise.
The All Blacks retained the Hillary Shield in a tight, compelling 16-15 victory over England, but it was an 80-minute performance that offered plenty of promise for the hosts, who can count themselves unlucky to be on the losing side, having dominated vast swathes of the game.
As ever, though, New Zealand’s composure and clinical edge shone through at the right times and frustration will be the overriding emotion that England are left with.
We have run the rule over the 23 performers and rated each of their efforts.
- Elliot Daly – 6
The full-back looked sharper in the air and covering across the back field than he did versus the Springboks but did have one knock-on a high ball, in admittedly challenging conditions. Didn’t have too much opportunity to affect the game on the counter-attack or in the back line, given the territorial approach both teams took to the contest.
- Chris Ashton – 7
He set English pulses racing with his early try and was industrious and reliable in both defence and the aerial battle throughout the game. Chances to influence play as an attacking force were few and far between after his opening score of the game.
- Henry Slade – 7
The game seemed to slow down for Slade when he got his hands on the ball. He danced his way through All Black pressure multiple times, distributed accurately and brought his kicking game to bear to good effect in the wider channels.
- Ben Te’o – 6
The centre definitely looked to benefit from having a bit more rugby under his belt this week and looked more mobile. His vertical defence shooting out of the line was physically unforgiving on New Zealand, but still looked a bit flat-footed when defending horizontally. Noticeably quiet in attack.
- Jonny May – 7
Constantly harassed New Zealand with his kick chase, putting the All Black receivers under pressure and forcing errors. Like Ashton and Daly, the wing had few chances to have a more direct attacking influence on the game.
- Owen Farrell – 7
Started very strongly, orchestrating the England back line, knocking over a drop goal and creating a turnover by ripping the ball out of contact from Ardie Savea. A few errors crept in as the game went on, including kicking out on the full after New Zealand’s first try and a defensive mis-read on that Damian McKenzie try. Redeemed himself later by making a try-saving tackle on the New Zealand full-back, as well as thundering hit on Kieran Read.
- Ben Youngs – 8
Right from the miss-pass for Ashton’s try in the opening two minutes, Youngs continued his high level of play from the game against South Africa a week before. Aside from one over-kicked box-kick, Youngs’ game with the boot was superb, allowing English chasers to contest and drawing the New Zealand back three just outside of their 22. Manipulated space, too, shaping up to box-kick before unleashing Farrell and the back line against a defence not set for it.
- Ben Moon – 8
The Exeter prop backed up his impressive performance off the bench from a week before, stabilising the English scrum against a powerful All Blacks unit. Kept his shape and managed to stay square in the early scrums, before going on the offensive as the game went on.
- Dylan Hartley – 8
One of Hartley’s better performances in an England jersey, providing quickly hooked ball at the scrum and efficiently and physically manning the fringes against New Zealand carriers. He also nailed all four of his lineout throws before being replaced at half time.
- Kyle Sinckler – 8
Brought plenty of positives as a ball-carrier and tackler, dominating the gain-line in the loose. He was under pressure at the first scrum of the game and was penalised for pulling down on the second, but grew into the set-piece after that and created a strong tandem with Moon. A knock-on a few metres out from the New Zealand try line in the second half marred an otherwise strong showing.
- Maro Itoje – 7
Ruled the skies in the first half, cleanly delivering ball on all his targets by Hartley, but had two of his four targets in the second half by Jamie George stolen. His line-speed put New Zealand under real pressure, particularly in the first half, as well as being a safe pair of hands on the high balls, which New Zealand frequently went to.
- George Kruis – 8
A really solid execution of basics from Kruis, whose contest of the New Zealand lineout denied them their usual efficiency. Defensively, he put the pressure on around the fringes, harassing Aaron Smith, and was a nuisance in the maul.
- Brad Shields – 7
The New Zealand-born flanker is growing into the England jersey and stood out with the accuracy of his tackling and his work at the contact area. Made multiple tackles on his former teammate Beauden Barrett as the second wave of England’s kick chase, with Barrett usually managing to evade the first one or two men chasing.
- Sam Underhill – 8
A really energetic performance from the openside, whose incisive running lines brought plenty of gains for England. He was also effective as a first-up tackler on the kick chase and his low tackles in the defensive line overpowered a number of powerful Kiwi carriers.
- Mark Wilson – 6
They were tough conditions at Twickenham for Wilson to emulate his standout performance of a week prior and he struggled on a couple of occasions fielding the high ball, although both were well contested by New Zealand. He did make a number of powerful tackles on the gain-line, helping England dominate the early possession and territory arm wrestle.
Replacements
- Jamie George – 4
The Saracens hooker only successfully connected on five of his 10 throws and England lost all momentum at the set-piece after having prospered there in the first half. Picked up a penalty for a dummy throw, too.
- Alec Hepburn – 6
Looked better coming off the bench than he did starting against South Africa and didn’t have the torrid time in the scrum of a week previous.
- Harry Williams – 6
Kept square in the scrum and offered an outlet as a carrier.
- Charlie Ewels – 6
Took one lineout well, with the set-piece in disarray, and provided some punch as a one-out carrier after coming on.
- Courtney Lawes – 6
The Northampton man enjoyed a fine first half cameo when Shields was off for a HIA, disrupting New Zealand’s lineout, putting on pressure with his line-speed and making a number of dominant tackles. Blotted his copybook with a loose offload and the game on the line with less than two minutes to play.
- Danny Care – 7
The scrum-half brought a nice injection of tempo and had an eye for space, with his replacement of Youngs reminiscent of the combination the pair provided in Eddie Jones’ first season in charge.
- George Ford – n/a
No opportunity to influence the game having come on in the last few minutes.
- Jack Nowell – 6
Kept up the industrious work of the starting wings with his kick chase after entering the fray, but little else to do in the dying minutes.
Watch: The second part of our interview with former All Blacks lock Ali Williams.
Comments on RugbyPass
Jake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
34 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
34 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
9 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
34 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
9 Go to commentspure fire
1 Go to commentsA very well thought out summary of all the relevant complications…agree with your ”refer the Cricket Test versus 20/20 comparison”. More also definitely doesn't necessarily mean better!
9 Go to commentsMust be something when you are only 19 y.o and both NZ and France want you. Btw he wasn’t the only new caledonian in french U20 as Robin Couly also lived in Noumea until 17. Hope he’s successful wherever he chooses to play.
13 Go to comments“Several key players in the Stade Rochelais squad are in their thirties” South Africans are going to hate the implications of that comment!
11 Go to comments