The mighty All Black juggernaut completed their successful Grand Slam tour over the UK nations on Saturday with an emphatic 32-6 win over a determined, but ultimately inferior, England team at Twickenham.

Perhaps most remarkable aspect of the achievment by Graham Henry and his side is the fact that throughout their tour, which saw them secure wins over Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England, is the the New Zealander's did not concede a single try throughout the four weeks.

Much of Saturday's game was more of a contest than the final score suggests though. A fiery and competitive match England ultimately just ran out of gas in the final 20 minutes and will certainly not have been helped by having to play almost half of the match with 14 men — four players, Lee Mears, Toby Flood, James Haskell and Tom Rees all spending ten minutes on the sidelines.

As the proud Kiwi's performed their famous 'Haka' at the start the England fans showed their true value. Singing 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot', 82 000 strong, the home fans certainly showed Steve Borthwick and his men that they were up for the challenge.

Leicester Tigers flyhalf Toby Flood, selected ahead of Danny Cipriani for this weekend's clash, started nervously for the home side but it was an open first few minutes with both sides, the visitors particularly, showing their inclination to play an attacking game.

Having been so dominated by the Springbok pack last weekend the first ten minutes saw the England pack make some real yards against the All Blacks but, worryingly again, the backline didn't quite seem to have enough creatively or power to break the Kiwi line.

It took fifteen minutes for the first points to be scored, a successful penalty kick from Dan Carter.

After missing his first attempt at goal Flood was almost immediately handed a second chance after a powerful scrum from his pack forced a penalty some forty metres out — dead in front — and the Leicester man made no mistake.

The game continued at good pace for much of the first half with tempers on both sides flaring up. At the breakdown too things were becoming heated with Mears finally feeling referee Alain Rolland's fury, receiving a yellow card for a blatant infringement at a ruck.

After letting England off the hook with one missed attempt Carter gave his side the lead, 6-3, with 26 minutes on the clock.

England's task was made that much hard with half an hour gone. Already down to fourteen men, Haskell was penalised and yellow carded for a swinging elbow on Rodney So'oialo Carter missed the attempt at goal but England, understandably, were under the cosh.

The England hooker soon returned the fry but his arrival was immediately welcomed with another New Zealand penalty, making it 9-3 with three minutes to go before the break.

Roland was, by now, completely at his wits end. Having penalised England a number of times at the breakdown, and having already handed out two yellow cards he awarded Carter his sixth attempt at goal and had a very harsh world for captain Borthwick.

Trailing 12-3 at the break England were still very much in the match but the All Blacks ability to fire in the second half is very well documented. Simply too fit, strong and skilful the visitors survived a brief onslaught from England in the early stages of the second forty to ultimately run away with the match.

The start of the second half then was England best opportunity to get over the opposition line. A break directly from the restart by Delon Armitage, who then linked with Nick Easter, got England to within five metres of the All Black line. Rather than using quick ball though the England pack waste five phases trying to out muscle the Kiwi pack.

Unsurprisingly, they failed. When the ball eventually went wide the reorganised All Black line easily dealt with it and in fact had a break of their own from their own half. Cowan, on the break, was brought down with a dangerously high tackle from Toby Flood. For his tackle Flood became the third English player to enjoy a 10 minute break on the sidelines.

The tension continued to run high early in the second half. England were clearly, possibly deliberately, getting under the skin of the New Zealand team. With eight minutes of the second forty done Armitage stepped up to take a long range penalty attempt for England. A difficult effort, almost 50m out from the left hand side, the fullback made it look easy and took the score to 12-6 early in the second break.

55 minutes on the clock and Brad Thorn should have scored. A break from Cowan in his own half took New Zealand to within metres of the line but Thorn, with an open line in front of him, knocked on the low pass.

Thankfully, for the Canterbury lock, the next phases finally saw the first try of the game. A turnover from the scrum helped create space for Muliaina to score in the corner. A missed conversion meant the score, with 20 minutes left in the game, was 17-6.

Another Carter penalty, followed by Muliaini's second try clearly showed that the tired England legs were finally done and dusted. Quick ball inside the homes sides 22 gave Carter the opportunity to send an audacious little cross kick into the arms of his fullback who then easily strode over for his second five points.

If the game wasn't already wrapped up (and it was) Nonu made it secure with his try in the 71st minute. Created by Keven Mealamu's half break Nonu ran almost 70 metres to score his sides third try and take the score to 32-6.

England will take heart from the fact that they had the Kiwi's rattled at times and also that they created a couple try scoring opportunities. Unfortunately though the fact that they could not capitalise on their chances, and ultimately could not keep up with the power for the All Black side, only confirmed that there is still a lot of work to do.

For the All Blacks the win caps another incredible year for Richie McCaw and his men. Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup winners already this year the Grand Slam success will only add to their credibility as 2008 team of the year.

Man of the Match: Officially the award went to Ma'a Nonu. His sheer power with ball in hand make him a worthy winner but for me, with his two tries, and his reliability and strength, the award goes to Mils Muliaina.

Moment of the Match: Once again the pre-match Haka provided a memorable moment. The sheer message of support from the English fans to their team drowned out the New Zealand ritual. During the 80 minutes though, the moment which broke the English backs, was Muliaina's first try which sparked the All Black march.

Villian of the Match: Plenty of yellow cards from the English; any one of them could have been named as the villian. A tense match with lots of niggle throughout few steered clear of pushing and shoving.

Scorers:

For England:
Pen: Flood, Armitage

For New Zealand:
Tries: Muliaina 2, Nonu
Con: Carter
Pens: Carter 5

Yellow cards: Lee Mears, Toby Flood, James Haskell and Tom Rees

England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Tom Rees, 20 Harry Ellis, 21 Danny Cipriani, 22 Dan Hipkiss

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Hikawera Elliot, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Isaia Toeava.

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Nigel Owens (Wales), George Clancy (Ireland)
TMO: Tim Hayes (Wales)

365

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