NEW ZEALAND won a pulsating Test match at Twickenham on Saturday after ill-discipline from the men in black had kept the home side in the game.

But with the crowd roaring behind England on in the closing minutes, Mark Telea scored his second try in the corner to bring the scores level. Up stepped Damian McKenzie to kick an almost impossible conversion to take a two-point winning lead.

England captain Jamie George had talked about pressure moments and expected his side to beat the All Blacks.

But with only eight victories out of 45 games in the fixture since 1905, the pressure was on the home side to score a last-minute penalty to steal the win and George Ford hit the post from a good angle and distance.

With the clock in the red, Ford had a final chance for glory but fluffed his drop-goal attempt.

The home side only scored one try to the visitors’ three, which was the crucial difference as England lacked the cutting edge to hurt the All Blacks.

But Aussie referee Angus Gardner penalised the New Zealanders for continual offences to allow Marcus Smith to kick five penalties and keep his side within touching distance of the iconic All Blacks.

After three off-the-ball tackles, Gardner warned visiting skipper Scott Barrett that the next transgressor would be sent to the sin bin.

Alas for England, the next offence was in the closing minutes as Anton Lienert-Brown was shown a yellow card. The Twickenham crowd were baying as a slow-motion replay showed the number 22 had also clashed heads with England hooker Theo Dan.

With a choice of two positions to take the penalty from, Ford hit the post and that was effectively game over.

Ireland will be a sterner test for the All Blacks as they line up next Friday which will not give the visitors much time to recover after a bruising encounter at Twickenham.

New Zealand back rower Ardie Savea said: “I didn’t think we had that in the end. We got lucky with the penalty kick, but rugby is a game of fine margins and we will take it.

“That game could’ve gone either way but for us to stay in it and defend the goal line like that, I’m very proud of the boys,” Savea said.

Head coach Scott Robinson said that his side was “ill-disciplined and needed greater accuracy and to trust the system” when they face Ireland in Dublin.

But after dominating the scrum in the first half, England’s second-half scrummaging will have concerned head coach 
Steve Borthwick as the All Blacks got the upper hand.

The home side’s lineout also misfired and with the Springboks visiting in a fortnight, their forwards will have been licking their lips at the prospect of outmuscling England at Twickenham.

Borthwick said his side had opportunities to win the match, but acknowledged the visitors were vastly more experienced.

“Ten of their side played in the Rugby World Cup final and their starting 15 had more caps than our entire squad of 23, but we lost that game by the width of the post,” the head coach said.

Borthwick said that his side would need to be better at the breakdown in next Saturday’s game against Australia as that was an area of the game the Wallabies excel.

“We try and play the game fast and it takes courage to perform the way we do, and we’ll need to dust ourselves down and get ready for Australia,” Borthwick said.