Thorny Encounters: A History of England v The All Blacks by Matt Elliott

Author:Matt Elliott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2018-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

MATCH 22

Eden Park, Auckland, 27 June 1998

ALL BLACKS 40 – ENGLAND 10

‘The two Tests were meaningless mismatches.’

– Jeff Wilson, All Black wing

WHILE Clive Woodward was away on the whirlwind five-day trip to attend the funeral of his father in England, England had suffered further humiliation at the hands of the New Zealand Maori, losing 62-14 in Rotorua.

Lewis Moody (ENG 1998–2011): ‘I had never – never – played in such a heavy defeat as 62-14 in my life – not at school, nor for my country, and definitely not for Leicester. I was embarrassed.’

There were changes to both Test sides but most notably Jonny Wilkinson hadn’t recovered from his injury, so Josh Lewsey wore the England number ten jersey. Steve Ravenscroft, who had lived in Auckland for a time and turned out for the North Harbour Under-21s, was included on the England bench.

Prior to kick-off there was a public acknowledgement of All Black great Sean Fitzpatrick who had retired due to an ongoing knee problem. He left the game as the most-capped international forward with 93 Test appearances.

After the drama of the previous Saturday, the final score of 40-10 is somewhat misrepresentative of the All Blacks’ domination of the game. They began strongly with wing Jeff Wilson scoring after only four minutes. But as the match progressed, the home side were playing more like a collection of individuals than a cohesive unit. This wasn’t helped by coach John Hart making five substitutions in the first hour.

England, certainly with pride at stake – and 15 men on the paddock – played with a John Mitchell-enthused ‘controlled fury’.

Clive Woodward (ENG coach 1997–2004): ‘Matt Dawson captained brilliantly and his example enabled England to show some spirit in their best performance of the tour.’

Dawson certainly did lead by example, scoring all his side’s points.

All Black flanker Josh Kronfeld wrote in his diary that he felt the All Blacks were losing their way and forgetting how to play the game simply. He believed four try-scoring opportunities had been missed in the match, simply because the team weren’t doing the basics like using the ball to beat the man.

Jeff Wilson (NZ 1993–2001): ‘We knew … that all they would be trying to do would be to minimise the scores against them and that if we didn’t beat them comprehensively, we’d be criticised. The two Tests were meaningless mismatches and didn’t feel like proper Tests. I didn’t take much satisfaction from either one of them and the sooner they’re forgotten, the better.’

England players felt exactly the same way about their month-long nightmare, which ended with a 0-18 loss to South Africa.

This Test was the last time the All Blacks played a home fixture against England during an afternoon. Due to the terms of lucrative broadcasting deals, stadia were replaced or rebuilt and lights for night matches installed. The kick-off time for the majority of their home matches is now 7.35pm.

Referee: P.L. Marshall (Australia)

Touch Judges: W.J. Erickson (Australia), S.M. Young (Australia)

Attendance: 45,000

Half-time: NZ 14, ENG 7

Scorers: NZ Wilson (2t),

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