There was drama at Eden Park when the All Blacks beat England 36-12 -- and not all the drama was acceptable. It was a cantankerous match which will be remembered for unpleasant reasons.
Whatever happened in the first half was overshadowed by the fighting which had its nadir in the sending off of Simon Shaw of England for using his knee on Keith Robinson of New Zealand. Robinson was not England's favorite New Zealander.
It was never a charming match with simmering violence there all the time.
There was much in the England performance which was admirable -- but their virtues spilled over into vices as a bit of Albuferra came to Auckland, but this time amongst the players, not the fans.
The All Blacks also suffered a player reduction late in the match when with 12 minutes left Marty Holah was sent to the sin-bin for a critical infringement near the All Black line.
Oh, and the All Blacks won the series 2-0, twice scoring more than thirty points against the holders of the World Cup who failed to score a try in either Test.
England started off doing to the All Blacks what the All Blacks did to them in Dunedin -- getting stuck in at the tackle and doing it in numbers.In those first ten minutes of English aggression England went 6-0 ahead when Carl Hayman was penalised at a scrum and then a second three minutes later when New Zealand were off-side during a concerted England attack.
Then came the fighting madness. First Joe Worsley and Keith Robinson were spoken to. Then came worse when Robinson was lying over bit of a tackle area. Julian White put an admonishing boot on him and then Shaw stuck the knee, producing unhappy reactions on both sides.
The referee showed Shaw a red card. Reduced to 14 men England battled manfully and with more control but gradually the All Blacks got on top.
Daniel Carter broke sharply down the New Zealand right and gave to Mils Muliaina, who had wasted an earlier run by footing into the England in-goal. Back this time the ball came going left and then back right. Justin Marshall was close, possibly within stretching distance. He lost the ball.
England eventually broke out and were in a position to score a try but the game was brought 80 metres back because Mark Regan had tackled Marshall without the ball. Carter goaled and the score was 6-3 to England.
The All Blacks collected an England drop-out and there was the electric majesty of Joe Rokocoko surging thorough their defence. He gave to Carter who seemed to have a straight ruin to the line, but Tom Voyce hauled him in and it took a sharp decision by the television match official for the try to be awarded. Carter then converted from far out.
That made the score 10-6 to New Zealand at half-time.
Joe Rokocoko scored a hat-trick of tries in the second half.
From a line-out Muliaina came wrapping round from the right-wing. Nick Evans burst ahead and gave to Rokocoko who scored. Carter converted. 17-6 after 47 minutes.
Seven minutes later it was the Evans-Rokocoko combination that made the wing's second try with an inside pass. Carter, inevitably, converted. 24-6.
In this half the All Blacks were penalised repeatedly, England not at all. Hodgson kicked two at a time when substitutions proliferated. 24-12 to England after 62 minutes.
Andrew Mehrtens came on as a replacement at this stage to rapturous Eden Park applause. He had one masterful break which should have led to a try but petered out on a Carter grubber into in-goal.
From a scrum Xavier Rush and Marshall did clever thins. The ball came back to Spencer who kicked a high diagonal kick which Rokocoko juggled, gather and used to score his thirds Test-match hat-trick. Cater converted. 31-12.
While Holah was considering his sins on the side-line, the All Blacks scored a sweeping, long-range try with Spencer surging over in the corner. Mehrtens missed the conversion.
There was a little time for some more containerise moments but eventually the final whistle blew on an affair that was noble in some aspects, so sad in others.
Man of the Match: Elegant Joe Rokocoko. He made one and scored three.
Moment of the Match: Moments are not always pleasant. There were pleasant ones, such as Trevor Woodman's break, and Joe Rokocoko's third try off the high hoof, but the dominant moment was Simon Shaw's indiscretion and sending off.
Villain of the Match: Simon Shaw.
Red card: Simon Shaw
The Teams:
England: 1 Trevor Woodman, 2 Mark Regan, 3 Julian White, 4 Simon Shaw, 5 Steve Borthwick, 6 Richard Hill, 7 Joe Worsley, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (c), 9 Andy Gomarsall, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 11 Ben Cohen, 12 Mike Tindall, 13 Stuart Abbott, 14 Tom Voyce, 15 Josh Lewsey
Reserves: Fraser Waters, Matt Dawson, Danny Grewcock, Olly Barkley, Michael Lipman, Andy Titterrell, Matt Stevens
New Zealand: 1 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 3 Kees Meeuws, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Keith Robinson, 6 Jono Gibbes, 7 Marty Holah, 8 Xavier Rush, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Mils Muliaina, 12 Daniel Carter, 13 Tana Umaga (c), 14 Joe Rokocoko, 15 Nick Evans
Reserves: Jerry Collins, Andrew Hore, Craig Newby, Tony Woodcock, Andrew Mehrtens, Sam Tuitupou
Unused: Byron Kelleher
Attendance: 49000
Referee: Williams n.
Points Scorers:
England
Pen K.: Hodgson C.C. 4
New Zealand
Tries: Carter D.W. 1, Rokocoko J.T. 3, Spencer C.J. 1
Conv: Carter D.W. 4
Pen K.: Carter D.W. 1
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