Johnson puts brave face on defeat

Eurosport - Sun, 30 Nov 14:12:00 2008

Martin Johnson refused to dismiss England as a "lost cause" as the curtain was brought down on a tortuous autumn with a record 32-6 defeat by New Zealand.

Paul Sackey v New Zealand, RUGBY - 0

The All Blacks secured their biggest victory at Twickenham with Mils Muliaina crossing twice and man of the match Ma'a Nonu adding a third try.

Dan Carter kicked 17 points as New Zealand completed their third Grand Slam tour and condemned Johnson to a trio of landslide losses in his first three games in charge.

"We turned up and played but that is the absolute minimum for us. We have to learn the lessons of this autumn heading into the Six Nations," Johnson said.

"It's not a lost cause and the players will be far better for this series.

"They had a kick in the teeth today. It's a harsh world but they need to learn from what's happened.

"I was proud of the players' effort. We had to stand up after what happened against South Africa (when they suffered a 42-6 loss) and we did that very well.

"We gave ourselves a chance but we were just not good enough to take it. Mentally the way the players approached the week was good.

"Some guys have a lot to learn as a team - mainly that you make mistakes at this level and you get killed.

"The coaching team has faced some heavy and undeserved criticism and they held things together very well this week."

England were hamstrung by some appalling discipline that saw four players sin-binned and gave a string of penalties to Carter, who missed five shots at goal in a rare off-day.

The course of the match may have been altered had Nick Easter finished a chance just seconds after the interval and Johnson admitted it felt like groundhog day.

"It's getting a bit old for us to say the margins are small," he said.

"Dan Carter missed some kicks today and that was worth paying money to see as it doesn't happen often.

"For the last three weeks we were still in the game at half-time. We had a fantastic opportunity after half-time which would have given us momentum.

"We competed and both defences were on top. We made a very good attacking team look average at times, but we must improve on our second-half performances.

"I haven't seen each individual sin-binning but to have four guys go in one game is unusual."

New Zealand coach Graham Henry was delighted by an unbeaten tour that finished with a ninth successive victory - and had a word of praise for England.

"This result epitomises what we've been doing all year," he said.

"We showed a lot of character in the first half, hung in there and then dominated in the last 20 minutes.

"That proves the backbone of the team. The guys have won all of the trophies available to them this year.

"We did the business and the boys have been superb. Winning a Grand Slam is difficult to do, it's only been done three times now.

"England played with a lot of character. They put a lot of pressure on us, were huge physically and tried exceptionally hard.

"There are not a lot of caps in that team and they will get better. I think Martin will be happy with the progress they made this week."

James Haskell has urged England fans to keep the faith because he believes the results will come underJohnson.

"Anyone watching at home who cares about English rugby should know we have the passion, we have the ability," the flanker told Sky Sports. "It comes down to execution and ruthlessness. We will do it.

"When you're building something new, it takes time."

England were made to pay for some indiscipline as the All Blacks built a 12-3 half-time lead before running in a pair of tries after the break.

"We were penalised quite a bit and you can't afford to have that against a side like New Zealand," Haskell said. "The scoreline was pretty flattering to the opposition. At times we were pretty good."

However, Haskell refused to criticise the referee despite England being shown four yellow cards.

"At this level you've got play to the referee, play to his interpretation. We didn't do that today and it's very disappointing."

New Zealand captain Richie McCaw was proud of the way his team played patiently in the first-half before punishing English mistakes later in the game.

"I think in the end, especially in the last 20 minutes of the game we benefited from a couple of mistakes and there might have been a few more," he said.

"A lot of what happens in the end is a result of what we did in the first half. We saw what was going to work and what's not. It's an 80 minute game."

The All Blacks have now emerged from a successful Grand Slam tour without conceding a try and McCaw pointed to the emphasis on defence.

"I think that indicates the attitude and the heart of the team, defence," he said. "It's what wins games."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

Comment 2 - 21 of 21

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  1. These All Blacks bore me........ They haven't won a­ World Cup since 1987 amd they have not been in a final­ since 1995 and they still insist they are the best in­ the World. They do not bring home the­ "Prize". Do they not think that the other­ teams are more worried about the World Cup than the­ friendly test matches or less significant cups that­ lead up to it? Fair play to South Africa, they are the­ World Champions and hold the Cup, until they are beaten­ they can claim to be the best in the World.
    Why are New­ Zealand red-hot favourites?

    1987 New Zealand win­ France Second
    1991 Australia win England Second
    1995­ South Africa win New Zealand Second... food­ poisoning...yeah right.
    1999 Australia win France­ second after they trounced New Zealand,
    2003 England­ win Australia Second.
    2007 South Africa win England­ Second. NB New Zealand out, trounced by France.

    If we­ award three points for a win and one for a second we­ have the following rankings.
    Australia 7
    South Africa 6­ remembering that South Africa did not participate in­ the 1987 WC
    England 5
    New Zealand 4
    France 2
    If we­ divide this number by the number of WCups, i.e. 6, give­ to two decimal places, we have an average points-per-­ World Cup scale we can work with.
    Australia -­ 1.17
    South Africa- 1
    England - 0.83
    Mew Zealand -­ 0.67
    France - O.33

    Now, New Zealanders please tell me­ why we should consider you the best team in the World?

    From John D, on Mon 1 Dec 4:54PM

  2. Dave H you must be a real boring, brainless ars******.

    From Up the Boks, on Mon 1 Dec 7:52AM

  3. These South Africans bore me shitless.
    Yes, South­ Africa are World Champions of 2007...
    But the 2007­ World Champions have been beaten several times in­ 2008.
    Including a 0-19 hiding to the AB's in South­ Africa this year.
    The All Blacks are not world­ champions nor are South Africa the best in the world­ this year........

    From Dave H, on Mon 1 Dec 6:33AM

  4. Guys & Gals, the All Blacks are NOT the best team­ in the world. When last have they won the world cup? We­ have listened each 4 year period how the might NZ rugby­ team will sweep all before them come the world champs,­ only to see them choke and fizzle out. 1987 was a LONG­ time ago.
    The Springboks are the current world­ champions; have been 2x in fact. They are also unbeaten­ on their NH tour. They humiliated England 2 weeks ago,­ running in 5 superb tries for a record Twickenham­ defeat of the home side. ( this despite 20 minutes of­ the game with 14 players on the field)
    So to all the­ poor NZ fans I say: wake up and face the facts.

    From Up the Boks, on Mon 1 Dec 4:38AM

  5. really proud to be English!! Love the boys and i know­ they will get better. there young give them a chance.

    From Louise P, on Sun 30 Nov 10:35PM

  6. I think you will find there was a little match played­ in the south of Ireland were the all blacks conceded a­ try.... Munster I believe was the name of the team

    From joshua w, on Sun 30 Nov 9:21PM

  7. The English love losers more than winners so dont worry­ boys, lots of tv time coming your way and personal­ appearances. Hurry though, because the English Cricket­ team will be challenging you for air space for air­ heads

    From not printable, on Sun 30 Nov 1:22PM

  8. England must start to use their brains like the Welsh­ in the game yesterday against Australia. Australia­ used their brains to they had some clever runs down the­ sides

    From valism, on Sun 30 Nov 1:17PM

  9. England must start to use their brains like the Welsh­ in the game yesterday against Australia. Australia­ used their brains to they had some clever runs down the­ sides

    From valism, on Sun 30 Nov 1:15PM

  10. Leaving aside who is best, who is not, the problem is­ always the same, northern hemisphere teams pay the all­ blacks too much respect , the Wallabies, in the last­ tri nations beat them, in New Zealand, neither the­ Yarpies or the Aussies think of it as a big deal, and­ after all the Yarpies are World champions at present,­ nothing will change that, as an Aussie I am not happy­ after yesterday's result, but I have no problem­ acknowledging when my team have not been good enough,­ England will be the better for it, Regards, Ned Kelly

    From jcastledineruiz, on Sun 30 Nov 12:15PM

  11. i thought that South Africa were world champions, so­ how can the ABs be the best in the world?

    From Saint, on Sun 30 Nov 11:51AM

  12. SOUR GRAPES

    From Alex F, on Sun 30 Nov 11:23AM

  13. All Blacks still the best team in the world

    From Danielle C, on Sun 30 Nov 11:03AM

  14. Can't see any wining!
    Not as much as we heard when­ the ABs were beaten by France in the RWC.

    From Count Louis Zborowski, on Sun 30 Nov 10:34AM

  15. Some of us English have short memories. Just remember­ how things were when Clive Woodward took over, The tour­ to hell etc but we still went on to rule world rugby­ for a long time and won the World Cup. A lot of our­ current players are inexperienced at this level - just­ give them and Jonno a little time and if they don't­ improve then that is the time to worry, Rome was not­ built in a day, as they say. Also you must bear in mind­ just how good this All Black team is, any number of­ superlatives would not be wasted on them. Keep pluging­ away, Jonno and co and things WILL get a whole lot­ better!

    From bobno1smith, on Sun 30 Nov 10:03AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    the thought whining poms is coming to mind

    From jpbutler2003, on Sun 30 Nov 1:34AM

  17. How can the AB No 7 (a) get involved in a scrap (b)­ then throw a punch and then (c) IN FRONT OF THE REF­ shove an opposing player in the face and stay on the­ pitch???? That alone indicates just how one sided the­ refereeing decisions were. total disgrace.

    From Owen, on Sat 29 Nov 9:16PM

  18. How could 4 players get sin binned? Everyone knows the­ AB's are very dirty players,just more cunning than­ most!

    From cattie1, on Sat 29 Nov 9:09PM

  19. I really thought they showed promise.
    It just went off­ the rails at the end- and of course the binning was­ unusual!

    From Count Louis Zborowski, on Sat 29 Nov 7:35PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Shane williams and Lee byrne AR The best playrs and­ thei will be in llions tour to South Affrica good win­ today the sould be 39 18 up if martin williams catch­ the ball and stepan jones kics is point if wee had lost­ that game thew blame was on martin and stepan for not­ taking the chans Warran Gatland but Hook in 10 to­ starting he is more

    From alantwin40, on Sat 29 Nov 7:01PM
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