England fly to Dunedin today to prepare for Saturday's first Test having restored their self-respect with a challenging performance against a New Zealand A team which included seven All Blacks. Clive Woodward, the England coach, will select the side after tomorrow's game against the New Zealand Academy in Invercargill.
In monsoon-like conditions his spirited, well-organised side put the nightmare of the 76-0 defeat by Australia behind them, taking a merited half-time lead and continuing to play constructive football after their hosts regained control with a second try after the interval by Lee Stensness.
It was a punishing physical examination which compelled England to dig deep and brought out their commitment and skill. The downside was a failure to break out of their own half in the second period, when lack of experience in key areas prevented them building on their dreadnought defence.
England, in fact, created enough opportunities to forge well ahead before half-time which, had they been accepted, would have radically altered the subsequent pattern of play and perhaps produced a win.
Phil Greening, arguably England's most dynamic player, Rob Fidler, Dave Sims, Steve Ojomoh, Ben Clarke and Nick Beal each made a solid case for Test selection, but Josh Lewsey, the former Bristol fly-half, took the shine off an inventive display with some bizarrely inconsistent kicking out of hand.
Ojomoh was bold and resourceful on the blind side, making the hard yards and upstaging the All Black flanker Andrew Blowers, no mean feat in itself, and Clarke, at number eight, also showed the kind of streetwise intelligence at close quarters that will be indispensable at Test level.
Possibly the most encouraging contribution came from the 20year-old Sale open-side Pat Sanderson, who demonstrated the ability to adapt quickly whenever the New Zealanders switched the point of attack or attempted to disrupt England's rucking.
If Woodward jettisons Tony Diprose there is every chance that Sanderson, Clarke and Ojomoh will be chosen as the back-row unit, with a place on the bench for the former nightclub bouncer Ben Sturnham, who last week signed a three-year contract with Bath on a free transfer from Saracens.
England's nemesis Jonah Lomu was bottled up for lengthy periods, though the All Black wing did make a couple of charges through midfield, allowing Blowers to put Caleb Ralph over for a 23rdminute try in the right corner.
Lomu, who was substituted by Tana Umaga on the hour, has probably done enough to win a Test place: the verdict of the Auckland coach Graham Henry was that he "went well".
Henry had regained the initiative for the A side by sending on the scrum-half Jon Preston for Rhys Duggan at half-time, a change that enabled the Kiwi pack to perform with tighter discipline and keep possession for minutes on end.
Adrian Cashmore's second penalty goal put the hosts two scores in front late on and battling England were left with the first-half memory of Fidler driving through a line-out for a splendid try after Sims caught the throw-in in the right corner.
Scorers: New Zealand A: Tries: Ralph, Stensness. Conversion: Cashmore. Penalties: Cashmore 2. England XV: Try: Fidler. Conversion: Lewsey. Penalty: Lewsey.
