Lancaster: Savea's skill highlighted differences
All Blacks wing Julian Savea's wondrous
pick-up of a bouncing ball in scoring his second try in Saturday's 36-13
Steinlager Series win over England demonstrated the difference in
skills levels between the sides during the first half of the game.
That was England coach Stuart Lancaster's summation.
"I
thought the All Blacks' demonstrated why they have won 36 out of 37
games and that's why they're the No.1 team in the world at the moment,"
he said.
The record was outstanding not only in a rugby sense but
in international sport. Their wins were not just against teams ranked
sixth, seventh or eighth, they were against the teams ranked, two, three
and four.
"They have a great blend at the moment of athletic
talent and ability, skill set , experience, continuity and consistency,"
he said.
Lancaster said the All Blacks thoroughly deserved the
win on Saturday, especially on the back of their first half effort to
lead 29-6 at the break.
He said he was disappointed with
England's first half where they lacked the intensity they had
demonstrated in the first two Tests. But he was proud of their effort in
holding the All Blacks in the second half.
Lancaster said it was
disappointing to concede the injury time try to the All Blacks when
their second half effort had been much improved.
Assistant coach Andy Farrell said the side's defence had started poorly and got worse.
"From
the start of the game to the short kick-off and a couple of errors and
they are back in our 22 and they get such a quick lineout we are not
even set and ready to go. So we are behind the eight ball all of a
sudden and we are being reactive instead of going getting them which is
what our defence has always been about.
"We certainly weren't near 80 percent and we needed all hands on deck," he said.
"The
minute that you are behind the gain line it becomes a snowball and we
didn't stop it for 25 minutes. The first half wasn't good enough and we
have something in black and white now about what intensity looks like
and what intensity definitely doesn't look like," he said.
Lancaster
said while the tour was disappointing, a lot had been learned about the
players during what was a period of transition for the side.
