Julian Savea
Savea scored in each half to down a spirited England.

England (16) 22

Try: Launchbury; Pens: Farrell 5; Cons: Farrell

New Zealand (20) 27

Try: Savea 2, Read; Pens: Carter, Cruden 2; Cons: Carter 2, Cruden

World Champions New Zealand held off a stern England resistance to stage a 13<sup>th consecutive win in 2013 and avenge defeat from 11 month ago at Twickenham.

Julian Savea and Kieran Read's tries had the All Blacks 17-3 ahead but Joe Launchbury's try and five Owen Farrell penalties put England ahead mid-way through the second half as lightening threatened to strike twice.

But Savea struck again after collecting a gorgeous pass from Ma'a Nonu to finish England off and continue New Zealand's winning run in 2013 despite a spirited display from Stuart Lancaster's men which provides significant encouragement ahead of next year's Six Nations championship.

With the No.2 position in the International Rugby Board rankings within sight, Lancaster's side were aiming for a repeat of the heroics which brought about victory over New Zealand 11 months previous, where the 2011 World Cup winners were blown away in a second half England blitz.

Despite missing six of that side which swept aside the All Blacks through injury, with Alex Corbisiero the latest casualty, six successive wins at Twickenham and an unbeaten autumn programme has raised hopes lightening could indeed strike twice. England could boast continuity also, with Dan Cole for David Wilson the only change from victory over Argentina.

But having won all 13 test matches in 2013 and been billed as the world's most dominant sports team, New Zealand had revenge in mind as they looked to set the record straight two years out from the World Cup.

Record-points scorer Dan Carter was winning his 100<sup>th cap, while the only change made by coach Steven Hansen from the win over France saw Savea replace Cory Jane with 13 of those who started in defeat last year returning in the bid to avenge defeat.

And within two minutes, New Zealand begun exacting retribution as England failed to tackle Read into touch and the No.8's offload found Savea who went under the posts.

Farrell, who last year had given England the first-half platform to secure the record win over New Zealand, required a repeat performance this time around and he began in the perfect fashion from the tee as Carter was penalised for not rolling away.

If the scrum had been the overwhelming positive from England's wins over Australia and Argentina, then New Zealand gave the hosts a huge thump down to earth in the opening set-piece and while they survived, the visitors confirmed their dominance with a second try as Read escaped past Ben Foden to score.

However, if the world No.1 ranked nation felt that such significant early inroads had laid foundations to victory, they were to be rudely awoken as England piled on the pressure in the middle of the first half.

Captain Chris Robshaw opted to go to the corner with a succession of penalties and though England weren't rewarded when Dylan Hartley came up short, Launchbury benefitted from a ricocheted to score from close range.

Aaron Cruden, who replaced the injured Carter on the half-hour, exchanged penalties with Farrell but when Read was sin-binned harshly for coming from the side, England further cut the deficit as their intensity grew at the breakdown.

Upon being restored to XV Cruden missed the chance to extend New Zealand's lead after half-time, but where the replacement failed Farrell made no mistake, cutting the advantage to just a single point.

And the Saracens fly half took advantage of further All Black-indiscipline to put England ahead for the first time with just 20 minutes remaining.

The lead was however short-lived as New Zealand produced a rabbit out of the hat to all-but steal victory as Nonu produced a glorious offload to find the onrushing Savea who powered over to silence Twickenham.

Cruden added a second penalty to stretch the lead to eight and amid a host of late England changes, the All Blacks saw out victory, among their toughest-fought of the year.

England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Chris Ashton,13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Ben Foden, 10 Owen Farrell, Lee Dickson, 1 Joe Marler, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Courtney Lawes, 6 Tom Wood, 7 Chris Robshaw, 8 Billy Vunipola

Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 David Wilson, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Alex Goode

New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Charles Piutau, 13 Ben Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, Aaron Smith, 1 Tony Woodcock, 2 Keven Mealamu, 3 Owen Franks, 4 Sam Whitelock, 5 Brodie Retallick, 6 Liam Messam, 7 Richie McCaw (capt), 8 Kieran Read.

Replacements: 16. Dane Coles, 17. Wyatt Crockett, 18. Charlie Faumuina, 19. Luke Romano, 20. Steven Luatua, 21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22. Aaron Cruden, 23. Ryan Crotty

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