England coach Eddie Jones is ruing lost opportunities but he’s pleased with the way his side played against New Zealand to hold the world champions to 16-15.
Eddie Jones was so upbeat after England’s one-point defeat by New Zealand that he would probably have had to be scraped off the ceiling had Sam Underhill’s late try not been ruled out for offside.
Trailing 16-15, England thought they had snatched it when Underhill scored after a chargedown with four minutes to go, only for the TMO to rule out the score for an offside decision against Courtney Lawes.
That condemned England to yet another defeat at the hands of the world champions, who have now won 15 of the teams’ last 16 meetings, but Jones took the preferred coaching path of looking for the positives having been on the right side of a single-point margin against South Africa last week.
“It was a fantastic game of rugby. We’re obviously devastated but you take the good with the bad and we’ll take a lot from that,” Jones told reporters on Saturday.
“We had opportunities to win the game. We didn’t take them, they did so they deserved to win but it was a good test-match tussle that we are only going to improve from.
“It was a really good step forward because you benchmark yourself against New Zealand and we will get a lot of reward for the work we’ve done.”
England got their reward on the scoreboard as tries for Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley helped them to a fully-deserved 15-0 lead after 25 minutes as the All Blacks made a series of errors in difficult, wet conditions.
The world champions fought back to edge ahead after an hour but, for once, they did not forge clear in the final quarter in a gripping, hugely physical battle.
“I thought we played the final 20 exceptionally well. If you look at any sort of metrics in the last 20, we won it and we’ll take enormous confidence from that,” Jones said.
“New Zealand generally run away from teams in that area and they couldn’t. They couldn’t break us. In fact, we finished stronger. If we’d kept going for another five minutes, we would have got them. We’re excited about where we’re going.”
England fans might rue two decisions to kick to the corner from two penalties well within Owen Farrell’s range – neither of which paid off as their lineout struggled – but Jones supported the calls.
“The players feel the game – we see it – and if they feel that there is an opportunity to crack the opposition they have got to go for it,” he said. “Otherwise, why do we want leaders in the team?”
With Hartley off injured, the decision was purely Farrell’s.
“We felt we had the ascendancy at the time,” said the flyhalf. “Our maul had gone very well in the first half and our boys were itching to have a crack at them.”
Farrell was the beneficiary of a TMO call on his last-minute tackle in the 12-11 victory over South Africa last week but this time the call went against the home side, and Jones was philosophical about it.
“I leave it up to that guy (the TMO),” he said. “If he can’t make the right decision with 10 replays then who can?
“Sometimes the game loves you, sometimes it doesn’t. You have got to accept that if you stay in the fight long enough, the game will love you. We’re prepared to stay in the fight so we will get some love further down the track.”
john hewitt
Guest
What is the status of England's number 18? Was he part of the ruck or was he behind the ruck? At the time the NZ halfback picked up the ball, England number 18 had his hand on the most forward AB in the ruck. He had been standing like that for s few seconds. By having his hand there it is my understanding he forms part of the ruck. If so Lawe's is clearly offside. Lawe's was in front of him.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
No mate. The difference is, the three quotes provided didn’t support the proposition, in fact the opposite. I demonstrated that to Dean, which he simply ignored, and you are doing precisely the same. It’s as satisfying as debating a four year old, so we move on.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Personally, I think there's a big difference between bringing up some of the worst acts of thuggery in rugby history, one of which could have put a player in a wheelchair, particularly when the main Kiwi narrative was, there wasn't a problem with the AB actions, and run of the mill ref errors.
James Butcher
Roar Rookie
Great response champ and a complete non sequiter. Are you new to debating? It seems like you might be?
Paulo
Roar Rookie
No Kiwi I m me cares much about that pass. We have moved on. I dont like any crowd booing, even Kiwi crowds. The Welsh crowd showed great respect for the kickers. Because some Kiwi crowds boo, and I am Kiwi, does not mean I can’t call out crowds that boo and say it is not good. I am not ‘Kiwi crowds’. We all need to call out this behaviour and not justify it like your attempting to by using the ‘but what about’ defence.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
I think the difference is you just wrote your own points 1 and 2 and the other ones are actual quotes from articles? I don’t knkw, maybe I’m wrong? Also, is it now we bring up BOD and THAT clean out from THAT Lions series? Botttom line is there are always incidents that get brought up by the vocal minority. I have seen people on here still bringing up Richard Loe haha
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Kiwis whining about playing rugby in the rain which, apparently, they're not used to coming from NZ - it's difficult to know whether to laugh or cry. I think I've now compiled the full list of appropriate match conditions for when NZ play at Twickenham. Obviously the list would be much longer if they'd lost, but here goes. 1. The weather must be bone dry on the day, dry for the previous month and watered to the exact specifications on the 'stimpmeter' which will be monitored by AB backroom staff through the month. 2. The referee must either be Nigel Owens or a Kiwi. 3. 'Stinger' spikes used to stop speeding cars must be erected 1 metre (actually let's make it 2m for the sake of 'running rugby') behind the opposition side of the ruck when the ABs are on attack. 4. The officials must sign an undertaking that pushing the laws by the ABs is 'intelligent play, why they are the champs etc' while for the opposition it is cynical cheating designed to destroy the game. 5. The Haka must be observed in total silence with opposition players and fans gazing with a look of awe and respect at the spectacle. It goes without saying that the Haka must take place at the exact time and circumstances demanded by the overworked Kiwi backrom staff despite it not being their stadium. 6. In the highly unlikely event of defeat, arrangements should be immediately put in place for the result to be declared null and void and a replay ordered given the ref's incompetence/deliberate food-poisoning by the wicked poms/the whole team contracting ebola etc (exact explanation to be filled in on the day. I'll pass the list on to the RFU, to avoid any typical pom arrogant failures of protocol in future.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Well, if was drawn on tv then who are we to argue? I bet you believe everything in the internet too? World Rugby has come out and supported the decision and the decision making process. But I’m sure you will either ignore this or ascribe that to the kiwispiracy too.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Dean, I think you're struggling with the definition of 'on and on and on.' A match report immediately after the match or in the next edition of a newspaper is not going 'on and on and on.' It's called commenting on the match. Here are some examples of what going 'on and on and on' looks like. 1. The French ref robbed the ABs of a series win against the Lions. We are going to mention this every time not just this ref, but ANY French ref is given a AB game, and we're going to do it for years to come. 2. Wayne Barnes missed a forward pass in 2007. We're therefore going to berate Wayne Barnes for the rest of his career, argue all NH refs conspire against the sainted ABs, and bring it up repeatedly over a decade after the event. In fact our coach will write about it in his book and claim dozens and dozens of French penalties were missed by Barnes (while not discussing how many AB infringements were missed) THAT's going 'on and on and on' about something. Spot the difference?
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Of course. Anyone who doesn't chant with a look of messianic zeal on their face 'The ABs are demi-Gods and I'm not worthy' while thrashing themselves with branches of thorns is 'butthurt by yet another loss to the Darkness.' The Kiwi rugby community is the weirdest in global sport.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Well, in slight disagreement with Neil, I'm claiming it was an incorrect decision (although I'm certainly not whining about it and doubt I'll abuse my wife or be talking about it in a decade's time). About 30 minutes after the match Sky TV UK drew, electronically, an imaginary line from the appropriate place in the ruck (which isn't behind the hands of the AB forward leaning on the floor) and Lawes foot. Lawes is on the move and they tried to isolate the exact moment the scrum half lifts the ball from the turf and when Lawes crosses the line. Half Lawes foot is on the imaginary line half behind so I'd need some clarification on the laws to say whether this is offside or not. However, that is largely irrelevant. It is almost impossible to isolate the exact millisecond he ball is lifted in relation to when Lawes crosses the 'line' It's 50-50, in real time you could give a decision either way. The point is the decision wasn't made in 'real' time. A try had been awarded. The TMO therefore, requires 'clear and obvious' evidence that an infringement has been made. I can't for the life of me see how the TMO can be satisfied that threshold has been reached. However, as Woodward has said, England blew their chance for other reasons and that 'try' would have papered over that.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Can I presume you're joking, seeing as Kiwis re-enter a state of complete hysteria every time they talk about a forward pass not awarded 11 years ago? Kiwis boo and whistle the opposition kicker and any decision that goes against them. I sometimes wonder whether you guys inhabit the same planet.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
You're right, OB. As a pom I feel terribly embarrassed at this unique English propensity to boo decisions that go against them and not to boo decisions that go for them. Kiwis in particular must be terribly disappointed at this pom propensity.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Wilful ignorance at its finest. You know full well no one has said it doesn’t rain in NZ. Heavy rain always typically reduces scores. Or are you new to rugby? It seems like you might be?
Paulo
Roar Rookie
So booing a correct decision that went against your team, several minutes after the decision was made, is a good look? Whether they booed the decision, or the result, my point still stands. Wilfully being ignorant of that is totally your choice though.
Dean Workman
Roar Rookie
As I said and it goes on and on and on Neil, that's just three I found in 30 seconds! I feel quite confident that if I tried hard I could fill pages and pages with more of the same coming out of the English media and their fans. Having said that I think the way you have bitten so hard probably says plenty more than any further quotes I could provide...... Just quietly calling Jonathan Kaplan 'one of the most experienced mutual referees on the planet' is farcical especially when it comes to commenting on anything to do with the All Blacks.
rebel
Roar Guru
And the scores would most likely be narrowed on a wet Auckland day, Wet weather rugby tends to be lower scoring.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Three quotes from three sources, two from the same newspaper. This represents English fans and the media? Really? If you'd paid attention rather than seeing what you want to see, you'd see the words 'controversial' and 'denied' being used, not 'wrong' or 'robbed'. You might also notice ' The TMO was wrong – there was no clear evidence to rule out England’s late try against All Blacks ' comes from Jonathan Kaplan?! Even your remaining quote only suggests there is a right to feel 'aggrieved'. Given what one of the most experienced neutral referees on the planet just said, it's accurate. Still, nought from three leaves lots of room for improvement at least. Have another crack if you like.
Mark
Guest
Why boo the decision when it was the right one if you are off side you get penalised simple !! it’s was about the only one the useless bloody ref awarded they were like in the Lions series offside all game
Dean Workman
Roar Rookie
'England denied famous victory over New Zealand by controversial Courtney Lawes offside call' 'England's disallowed try was too tight a call and they have every right to feel aggrieved' 'The TMO was wrong - there was no clear evidence to rule out England's late try against All Blacks' It goes on and on and on........ They are not hard to find Neil, just google English newspapers!