All Blacks vs. ENGLAND!

---

On Saturday night we were lucky enough to go and see England play the All Blacks in Christchurch for the second game of the Iveco Series.

England had lost the first match in Auckland a week before and had made six changes to the team, in a bid to turn around the series and end it in a draw.

We properly got into the spirit of things, going to Base Backpackers before the game, having a couple of drinks and getting our faces painted for the game. There were loads of England fans in Christchurch, but the Kiwis are Rugby mad, and they completely outnumbered us in the stadium...and weren't that nice to the English either!!

The game started pretty badly when Lee Mears was penalised for holding on to the ball, giving Dan Carter a simple penalty to make the score 3-0 to the All Blacks within the first minute. England started well though, they were full of energy, but just couldn't break through the New Zealand defence.

Silly mistakes from England led to big problems. You can't afford to that against the All Blacks, and they always punished the tourists with good tries. England though never let their heads drop, and Tom Varndell was unlucky not to get a try back straight away, only to be slid into tough narrowly before touching the ball down.

At half time, England were 20-0 down, and had lost Toby Flood to a shoulder injury, who had started well, to be replaced by Olly Barkley.

And Barkley had a great chance to score early on in the second half, when England were given a seemingly simple penalty conversion inside the first 30 seconds. Barkley though, somehow managed to scew the kick wide of the right post.

Matthew Tait, who had a good game, then created a chance out of nothing for himself, chipping the ball from the half way line, running on to the ball, kicking the ball a little further, but failed to gather the ball to touch down the try, after spilling the ball following a tackle from Adam Thompson.

Danny Care, making his first start for England, then went over to score England's first points, from a simple tap penalty, which Barkley converted. The All Blacks hit back straight away though, and Nonu went over just minutes after, before Lauaki rubbed salt into the wounds with another try to make the score 37-7.

Tom Varndell finally got the try that he had threatened with his power and speed, when he crossed the try line following good play from Tait.

Dan Carter and Sivivatu dominated the All Blacks attack, and the Kiwis scored one more try in added time to make the final score 44-12. The score though, was not a fair one on England, who didn't play as badly as the scoreline suggested. At the end of the day, England didnt take their chances, and the backs couldn't deal with the All Black's sheer class and power.


It was an amazing experience to be at the game though, in a great atmosphere on a cold night, and it was one of the highlights of the trip so far!

---