England achieved to today what very few sides have been capable of throughout the years: chasing down a big New Zealand lead.
However, despite coming back down from 25-6 in the last ten minutes, fans were left frustrated at the decision of Marcus Smith to kick the ball out of play, and thus ending the match in a 25-25 draw.
In Smith's defence, his side were down in their own 22, but they did have the momentum and New Zealand were down to 14 men after Jordie Barrett's sin-binning.
England had initially allowed New Zealand to build an early 14-0 lead, which they added to throughout the match, while repelling numerous English ventures into their 22.
After each attack stopped, hope dimmed in Twickenham, but three late tries, courtesy of two from Will Stuart and one from Freddie Steward, stunned the All Blacks.
England vs New Zealand
Play that last ball, All Blacks were shot, down to 14, playing at home…
— Simon Raiwalui (@SimonRaiwalui) November 19, 2022
I've never seen so many people look so p*ssed at the same time.
They were not happy Smith kicked it off.— thedeadballarea (@thedeadballarea) November 19, 2022
Kicking it out?!?!? Bloody hell, not my English rugby team #ENGvNZL
— Andrew Forde (@andrewfrugby) November 19, 2022
OK… so why on earth has Marcus Smith just booted that out? Back yourselves lads. How many opportunities in your career do you get to beat the All Blacks in front of a packed Twickenham?
— Jamie Weir (@jamiecweir) November 19, 2022
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After the match, England's Owen Farrell gave his views on the decision from Marcus Smith to play for the draw.
"I think it depended where we had the ball. It's a difficult place to go from. They had bodies piling in, we had men out, it was the right decision I think.
"They came out firing, we added errors on errors like the first game against Argentina. It didn't feel like we were far off to be honest, just one or two percent. But against New Zealand that's a lot.
"We're growing. This team has not been together too long. We feel like we're getting tighter and closer on and off the pitch. We're understanding each other a bit more. That got tested a bit today but we stuck together. That was brilliant.
"We're a team that wants to go at other teams. We don't want to wait for mistakes. that's what we did today."
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