- Try: C Smith
- Pens: Cruden 5
England 15 (9)
- Pens: Burns 4, Cipriani
(ESPN Report) A try by Conrad Smith three minutes from time was enough to give New Zealand a 20-15 win in a scrappy but enthralling first Test at Eden Park.
Until then the match had been short on opportunities and littered with handling errors, but with England down to 14 men for the final ten minutes the pressure finally told.
There was no sense of inferiority as England made a fine start with Chris Robshaw charging into space in an impressive early run and moments later Manu Tuilagi was bundled into touch. New Zealand had strayed offside and Freddie Burns sent the ball between the uprights to draw first blood.
Ma'a Nonu and Burns sent kicks out on the full, but wing Jonny May then invited pressure on England when he knocked on while attempting to catch a kick on his own 22.
Danger loomed as the All Blacks expertly probed the tourists' defence until a telegraphed inside pass was dropped by McCaw, although a penalty under the posts meant Aaron Cruden was able to level the score.
Robshaw led the response that started when James Haskell was sent rampaging into space and ended with Kyle Eastmond being tackled just short of the whitewash by Israel Dagg.
England maintained the pressure with Eastmond, Haskell and Tuilagi carrying well and a fine spell was completed by a second Burns penalty.
The outlook continued to brighten when New Zealand were penalised and Burns landed the three points. Leicester-bound fly-half Burns was playing superbly, defying the dismal form he has shown this season as he brought Nonu down with a brave tackle.
A soft penalty allowed Cruden to reduce the deficit to 9-6, but England pressed again with a fine kick from Eastmond forcing the alert Dagg into action.
Marland Yarde is sent to the sin-bin leaving England to play the last ten minutes with 14 men
Another attack ground to a halt when prop David Wilson dropped the ball but the All Blacks scrum backpeddled again and only a forward pass from James Haskell to May foiled a half-chance down the left wing.
A late surge by Tuilagi with Brown and Robshaw in support offered sight of the right corner, but New Zealand held out as a drop-goal attenpt by Burns sailed wide.
Once again May invited pressure on to England but luckily the All Blacks' indiscipline concluded a moment of panic. Dagg was beginning to torment the tourists with his acceleration and eye for space, but his team's crumbling scrum proved a significant hindrance.
New Zealand are famed for their ability to move up the gears, but they were unable to establish any momentum in the face of steely resistance from their opponents.
Scrum-half Aaron Smith exploited space down the left wing and only the intervention of Ben Morgan prevented a certain try.
England came alive in the 59th minute when Eastmond dummied and side-stepped his way into space, but his pass to the supporting Brown was too high.
May was reborn in the second half as he raced into space, chipped ahead and was stopped narrowly short of the line with Yarde trying to muscle him over. Burns and Cruden ensured a nail-biting finish awaited as they each landed penalties.
The momentum was with England but they came unstuck as they pressed with Brodie Retallick pouncing on a mistake by Ben Youngs and galloping free until he was hauled down by Yarde who, caught on the wrong side of the ruck, was sent to the sin-bin with Cruden subsequently kicking New Zealand into the lead for the first time.
England responded with a penalty from substitute Danny Cipriani and then profited when Cruden decided to take a quick-tap instead of going for goal and Victor Vito was held up just short of the line.
But the killer blow was landed moments later when Conrad Smith took advantage of an over-stretched defence to cross in the right corner and the All Blacks had won.
Conrad Smith goes over in the corner for the winning try
(Sky Sports) Conrad Smith's late try earned New Zealand a 20-15 victory over England in the first Test at Eden Park, their 15th Test win in a row.
England, without several first-choice players due to injuries and the late arrival of the Northampton and Saracens contingent after the Premiership final, had threatened a huge shock when four penalties from Freddie Burns gave them a 12-9 lead going into the final 15 minutes.
But the world champion All Blacks, defending a 20-year unbeaten record at the venue, came on strong in the closing stages, Aaron Cruden landing two quick penalties - the second of which saw Yarde shown a yellow card - to take his tally to five and edge New Zealand in front for the first time at 15-12.
Danny Cipriani's introduction sparked England to get back on level terms, the Sale playmaker forcing a mistake in New Zealand's defence and then kicking the penalty himself to make it 15-15 with seven minutes to play - only for Smith to win it at the end after a spell of sustained pressure.
England were left frustrated by the result but the performance offers hope for the remaining two matches of the series, in Dunedin next Saturday and Hamilton seven days later.
At times they contributed to their own downfall through unforced errors, most notably from butter-fingered prop David Wilson, although given England's dominance at the scrum it would be harsh to criticise the Bath tighthead.
Charge
But there was no sense of inferiority as England made a fine start with Chris Robshaw charging into space in an impressive early run and moments later Manu Tuilagi was bundled into touch.
New Zealand had strayed offside and Burns sent the ball between the uprights to draw first blood.
Ma'a Nonu and Burns sent kicks out on the full, but wing Jonny May then invited pressure on England when he knocked on while attempting to catch a kick on his own 22.
Danger loomed as the All Blacks expertly probed the tourists' defence until a telegraphed inside pass was dropped by Richie McCaw, although a penalty under the posts meant Cruden was able to level the score.
Robshaw led the response that started when James Haskell was sent rampaging into space and ended with Kyle Eastmond being tackled just short of the whitewash by Israel Dagg.
England maintained the pressure with Kyle Eastmond, Haskell and Tuilagi carrying well and a fine spell was completed by a second Burns penalty.
The outlook continued to brighten when New Zealand were penalised and Burns landed the three points.
Leicester-bound fly-half Burns was playing superbly, defying the dismal form he has shown this season as he brought Nonu down with a brave tackle.
A soft penalty allowed Cruden to reduce the deficit to 9-6, but England pressed again with a fine kick from Eastmond forcing the alert Dagg into action.
Once again May invited pressure on to England but luckily the All Blacks' indiscipline concluded a moment of panic.
Stifled
New Zealand are famed for their ability to move up the gears, but they were unable to establish any momentum in the face of steely resistance from their opponents.
Scrum-half Aaron Smith exploited space down the left wing and only the intervention of Ben Morgan prevented a certain try.
England came alive in the 59th minute when Eastmond dummied and side-stepped his way into space, but his pass to the supporting Brown was too high.
Burns and Cruden ensured a nail-biting finish awaited as they each landed penalties.
The momentum was with England but disaster struck as they pressed with Brodie Retallick pouncing on a mistake by Ben Youngs and galloping free until he was hauled down by Yarde.
Yarde was caught on the wrong side of the ruck and sent to the sin-bin with Cruden subsequently kicking New Zealand into the lead for the first time.
England responded with a penalty from substitute Cipriani and then profited when Cruden decided to take a quick-tap instead of going for goal and Victor Vito was held up just short of the line.
But the killer blow was landed moments later when Ben Smith sent over Conrad Smith to take advantage of an over-stretched defence and win it for New Zealand.
(BBC Sport) Under-strength England pushed New Zealand all the way in the first Test before the All Blacks showed why they are world champions as Conrad Smith's last-gasp try gave them a dramatic win.
England took a 9-3 lead through the boot of Freddie Burns.
But Aaron Cruden's kicking kept the hosts in it and it was 15-15 with two minutes remaining and Marland Yarde in the sin-bin for England.
The hosts spurned a kickable penalty but Smith dived over to secure victory.
It was a thrilling end to a gripping Test and means the hosts' 20-year unbeaten run at Auckland's Eden Park continues, but they were given an almighty fright by an England team missing eight players from the XV which started the final Test in the Six Nations.
Injuries and scheduling issues meant head coach Stuart Lancaster was forced to dig deep into his reserves in some positions, with fly-half Freddie Burns and inside centre Kyle Eastmond both fourth choices.
But they both had fine games - as did virtually every player in a white shirt - and although Lancaster said he was frustrated not to have won, he will be delighted with confirmation that, 15 months out from the World Cup on home soil, he now has real strength in depth to pick from.
Burns was only playing because first choice fly-half Owen Farrell and third-choice Stephen Myler are not available until next week's second Test because they did not arrive in New Zealand until mid-week following the Premiership final, while second-choice George Ford is absent with a shoulder injury.
There had been some debate as to whether Burns, who had a poor domestic season as his transfer to Leicester unsettled him, or Danny Cipriani should start.
In the end Burns got the nod with Cipriani - back in the England fold for the first time in six years - on the bench, but the former Gloucester man showed few signs of nerves as he kicked England into a 9-3 lead with a quarter of the match gone.
Recalled flanker James Haskell was at the heart of a fired-up performance by the England pack and with captain Chris Robshaw leading from the front the visitors were the livelier side initially.
It was Robshaw's break after two minutes that enabled Burns to give England the lead, and the hosts were lucky to keep 14 men on the field, with Ma'a Nonu penalised for pulling back the supporting Haskell and fortunate not to be sin-binned for the cynical infringement.
It was a stop-start 40 minutes, with both sides struggling to hold onto the ball in threatening positions - England's Player of the Year Mike Brown knocked on five metres from the New Zealand line to end one threatening attack - but the world champions worked their way back into the game and two penalties from Cruden levelled matters at 9-9 at the break.
The hosts must have had the figurative rocket put up them by coach Steve Hansen in the changing room as they came out a different side after the interval and threatened to run England off their feet.
Israel Dagg and Nonu combined for one electric counter attack in the the opening moments of the half but England held out before launching a couple of powerful assaults of their own.
Manu Tuilagi smashed some big holes in the All Black defence and Ben Morgan and Kyle Eastmond led a thrilling counter-attack from within five metres of the England line to deep inside home territory before the final pass eluded full-back Brown.
But it was the hosts who edged ahead on the scoreboard as Cruden landed two penalties to one from Burns, and when Yarde was sin-binned for not rolling away quickly enough in the tackle after hauling down galloping New Zealand second row Brodie Retallick to give the hosts the chance to take their 15-12 lead, it looked ominous for England.
Lancaster responded by rolling the dice and reintroducing Cipriani to Test rugby over half a decade since his pervious appearance, and his scything break earned the penalty which he then converted to make it 15-15 with seven minutes remaining.
A rare draw looked on the cards but with a couple of minutes remaining New Zealand were awarded a penalty that, although it was 40-odd metres out, was straight in front of the sticks.
A kick looked inevitable but Cruden tapped and went, and although Jerome Kaino and Wyatt Crockett were both held just short, quick hands from Ben Smith put namesake Conrad over in the corner for the match-winning try.
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