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QUICK TAP: NO TRY RULING WAS CORRECT – WORLD RUGBY

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“The All Blacks created more in attack – weather like that is a great leveller regardless of what level of rugby it is but they would always expect to make more opportunities and had Ardie Savea finished off that chance early in the second half it would have been a completely different game.

“The turning point was the decision to back themselves and go for a scrum towards the end of the first half. They will have sensed that they had the momentum. They were making more yards with their carries as England started to soak tackles and they knew they had ascendancy at the scrum.”

Stuart Barnes: The Sunday Times
“The afternoon wasn’t made for the majestic running game of [Beauden] Barrett, one that has delivered a startling 31 tries in 71 internationals. No fly-half comes near. But this was a day when the conditions were as difficult to defeat as a top-line defence. New Zealand play a slick offloading game that pulls and probes the opposition. The split-second required for a playmaker to adjust is the difference between a dangerous offload and no-risk rugby.

“If ever there was an elemental evening made for no risks, it was yesterday. And Barrett revealed that he is as adept at the kicking game as [Owen] Farrell. In the first half he constantly kicked right to left, seeking some soft spit in the game of Chris Ashton. Territory was king. He passed to others and kicked the corners. He could have been an English percentage player from the 1980s. There’s a time and a place, and this was it.”