All Blacks complete grand slam

The Grand Slam is complete and the Hillary Shield is appropriately in the hands of New Zealanders.

What was often a slog eventually turned into a canter as the All Blacks blasted their way to a 32-6 win over England at Twickenham today.

Two slick tries to fullback Mils Muliaina and a runaway to Ma'a Nonu in the final quarter continued a familiar script for the All Blacks on this highly successful tour of Britian and Ireland, where they have slowly but surely overpowered their opponents.

At the same time they managed to keep their own tryline intact again to complete a remarkable defensive sequence.

There was more spine to the English effort but it eventually ended in an a result not far off last week's 6-42 hiding a the hands of the Springboks.

England were happy to infringe to stay competitive. In a match dominated by penalties New Zealand could have embarrassed England more but for another sloppy goalkicking performance from Dan Carter who missed three penalties and two conversions.

Irish referee Alain Rolland was dominant figure, sin-binning two English players in a first half where play stuttered along and bringing his yellow card out again twice after the break as England's ill-discipline continued

Yet for long periods the All Blacks failed to take control against an English side at a numerical disadvantage for 40 minutes of a frustrating match.

As is often the case of New Zealand at this famous ground, England continued their habit of dragging the All Blacks down to their own standards for long periods of play.

It was appropriate, then, that New Zealand were able to shrug that off in the final quarter and finish this tour in style, warming the hearts of their fans on a cold afternoon in London.

The history books will show the black force from the south was too good for the white knights of the north and the New Zealand victory completed a clean sweep of Twickenham by the Tri-Nations teams on three successive weekends.

Under pressure English coach Martin Johnson will take some solace from the grit of his side at times. But there was little precision and plenty of errors.

They showed little on attack and their approach eventually proved costly.

The All Blacks grew into this match.

Muliaina and Nonu were again dominant backs while Sitiveni Sivivatu's strong tour continued and halfback Jimmy Cowan produced his best test of the trip.

Rodney So'oialo gathered a good supply of ball from the front of the lineout and fellow loose forward Jerome Kaino produced some trademark hits to lead the smothering All Blacks' defence.

The English cause wasn't helped by the niggly attitude of halfback Danny Care(less).

But their attitude was probably best summed up just before halftime when they put together a bit of front-foot ball and Toby Flood attempted a 40m dropped goal.

The massive crowd of 81,180 drowned out the haka with their beloved Swing Low anthem. The English team stood firm in response but there was no repeat of last week's Cardiff standoff and the teams got quickly into the kick-off positions.

Rolland quickly lost patience with the All Blacks, officiating against them for delaying their second lineout throw and then penalising Richie McCaw for coming off a scrum early where the Kiwis had shunted through the white pack. A breakdown penalty soon after allowed England further relief.

When England sniffed the New Zealand line there was an unceremonious welcome for their Kiwi-born second five Riki Flutey who was dumped in a powerful Dan Carter tackle and failed to release the ball.

The All Blacks steadily worked the ball to the other end of the paddock where Carter goaled a penalty for the first points of the game in the 15th minute.

New Zealand copped a scrum penalty soon after and Toby Flood goaled from 38m in front to level the ledger.

Rolland continued to rule with an iron fist and English hooker Lee Mears was sin-binned for killing ruck ball. Carter missed the penalty as his mixed goalkicking form on tour continued.

But he made no mistake from exactly the same spot a few minutes later.

The English problems were complicated when blindside flanker James Haskell was binned for a loose arm in tackling So'oialo.

Carter missed again but then slotted a goal from 25m in front as the English scrum buckled again.

He extended the lead to 12-3 two minutes from the break with a 40m effort following English hands in a ruck.

England made a storming start to the second spell when the All Blacks fluffed the kick-off and the hosts broke up the middle. No 8 Nick Easter thought Christmas had come early when he got within sight of the posts, seemingly free but then got ankle-tapped by Mils Muliaina.

England turned over the ball and as Jimmy Cowan broke out of the 22 he was floored by a high tackle from Flood. The first five was instantly sin-binned, heading off as Haskell returned to keep England at 14 men.

England continued to frustrate the All Blacks and edged back into it when Delon Armitage goaled after the New Zealand scrum was penalised.

The All Blacks struck gold at the three-quarter stage when they pummeled the English at scrum time, causing a turnover 15m out. Nonu sliced through to open an overlap which fullback Mils Muliaina gladly took advantage of to score in the corner and give the tourists some breathing space.

Carter missed the conversion but rediscovered his touch soon after with his fifth penalty goal.

And he then put in a deft kick that Muliaina gathered on the full to dash to same corner. The Grand Slam was complete – the All Blacks had climbed their final mountain to win the Hillary Shield.

There was still time for Nonu to cap off the evening with his 50m break off a sweet pass from Keven Mealamu as a bit of style came to the performance in the end.

The All Blacks head home to take a deserved win after nailing 13 of their 15 tests in a long year of international football that they have dominated on both sides of the equator.

England 6: Toby Flood 2 pens.

New Zealand 32: Mils Muliaina 2, Ma'a Nonu tries; Dan Carter 5 pens, con. Ht: 3-12

What was your assessment of the All Blacks' performance? Indeed, of the Grand Slam overall? Post your comments below.

 

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