Johnson focuses on positives after loss

Highlights: All Blacks beat England

Reuters

POSITIVE: England's coach Martin Johnson before the match against New Zealand at Twickenham Stadium.

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England manager Martin Johnson and his players were torn between celebrating a marked improvement in performance and lamenting another defeat after this morning's 19-6 loss to New Zealand.

England were far more physically aggressive and positive than in last week's victory over Argentina yet still rarely threatened a try.

They were level at 6-6 at halftime but were inexorably forced back by the relentless All Blacks and, once Jimmy Cowan scored the game-winning try after 57 minutes, never looked likely to come back.

It was an eighth successive defeat to the All Blacks yet the fans went away much happier than in last week's victory over Argentina.

"I have mixed feelings because we could have been in the game with 10 minutes to go," Johnson told a news conference.

"I'm not saying we would have won it but ultimately it's an opportunity lost to have a crack at them.

"The try made the difference and it was a little too much for us to peg back but, saying that, we had chances at the end.

"I'm proud of the effort the players and coaches have put in all week and everything they've done.

"It's been a tough week with all the criticism flying around"

Although, Johnson's injury-ravaged team were beaten by Australia then scraped a dull victory over Argentina the former England captain said there had been plenty of positives.

"We came into the series with a lot of disruption. We had four guys who started the Scotland game (in the Six Nations) and also started the Australia game.

"If it's not visible on the field at times, off the field they are a lot further down the line than the Six Nations and this series last year."

Lewis Moody, England's best player again, said: "I'm never happy with a defeat but I'm proud of the way we came out and threw everything at them especially in the first 20 minutes."

- Reuters