All Blacks' soft centre exposed in a dramatic finish against England

The All Blacks have had a famous win against England at Twickenham snatched from them in the final, controversial, eight minutes this morning after the hosts scored three quick tries in a 25-all draw.

In what was a strange match dominated by the whistle of referee Mathieu Raynal, who awarded 28 penalties and two free-kicks – split evenly between both teams – the All Blacks were in total control at halftime having scored two converted tries (and had another disallowed), but their near constant mistakes and ill discipline after the break allowed England back in.

As they rest over the New Zealand summer ahead of the World Cup, many of those involved should be the reflecting on how they blew a 19-point lead against an opponent who appeared to have few attacking ideas.

As what was initially a high-intensity Test limped to its conclusion thanks to Raynal's constant intervention, England, down 25-6, stayed with the All Blacks despite the odds and their grit paid dividends.

Reserve prop Will Stuart scored his first Test tries in that dramatic finale – the first an inconclusive one with no video evidence on the line awarded after Marcus Smith’s break was stopped by Beauden Barrett, who failed to release the No.10 and was later sinbinned as a result.

Fullback Freddie Steward scored straight from the kick-off as England finally attacked with confidence and put together the best movement of the match, and then with two minutes remaining, the All Blacks showed an alarming naivety to attempt to run the clock down before replacement halfback TJ Perenara kicked ahead, allowing England to counter against an alarmingly short defence.

Having crowded around the ruck in attempt to kill off the game, there were few defenders to stop England’s inevitable attack and they made the All Blacks pay via Stuart’s second try which was converted by Smith.

“I’m a bit speechless to be honest,” Richie Mo’unga said afterwards.

England's backline hardly fired a shot in the first half and when they did get close to the line through their pack the impressive All Blacks’ defence repelled them.

The All Blacks’ scrum and driving maul were powerful – the latter was intimidating at times – and their confident start reaped an immediate reward when they were over after only four minutes through Dalton Papali’i’s intercept of halfback Jack van Poortvliet’s pass.

They were over again via Codie Taylor’s try from a lineout drive and should have had another seven-pointer when Rieko Ioane crashed over near the posts after Savea’s steal and Mark Telea’s run. However, it was disallowed due to Ioane’s neck roll in a ruck against England captain Owen Farrell, who, like Brodie Retallick, was celebrating his 100th Test.

It was, though, another sign of the All Blacks’ dominance and at 14-0 up, they were attacking with power and imagination; the constant cross-kick variation to Caleb Clarke or Telea was causing England’s defence big problems, and Jordie Barrett should have scored just before halftime but for Aaron Smith’s challenging pass.

At 17-3 at the start of the second half, they were in charge of the match but, alas for them, their now notorious inconsistency kicked in and the metaphorical wheels fell off.

They gave up a penalty straight away, dodged a bullet when Billy Vunipola was penalised for flopping in when England were almost certain to score, Mo’unga was missing with his penalty touch-finders, and their attacking mojo all but disappeared.

Until, that is, the All Blacks won a turnover and Beauden Barrett kicked wide to Clarke, who sent Ioane away on a 75m run for their best try of the match.

The 21-year-old halfback van Poortvliet, who struggled with the intensity provided by the All Blacks, was dragged for Ben Youngs after 54 minutes and it appeared that a win for the visitors in the final Test of the year was a formality, especially when Beauden Barrett dropped a goal under penalty advantage with nine minutes left to extend their score to 25-6.

How the All Blacks managed to blow it from there is anyone’s guess – Mo’unga didn’t appear to know – but England capitalised on the perfect storm of the visitors’ mistakes and Raynal’s determination to penalise the team in possession.

With time up on the clock and Perenara hobbling off with a leg injury, Mo’unga kicked short in an attempt to retain possession and force the win, but No.10 Smith – to the displeasure of many of the 80,000 present – kicked the ball out for a draw.

An odd game with an odd finish. The All Blacks initially impressed hugely with their hard edge and appeared set to finish their year on a high, but in the end England exposed their soft centre.

All Blacks 25 (Dalton Papali’i, Codie Taylor, Rieko Ioane tries; Jordie Barrett 2 cons, pen, Beauden Barrett dropped goal)

England 25 (Will Stuart 2, Freddie Steward tries; Owen Farrell pen, Marcus Smith pen, 2 cons)