Three minutes after half-time, Twickenham were mired in their quietest moment since kicking off earlier in the day. The All Blacks came out strong when play resumed, launching waves of drives down the left before moving back to the middle of the pitch.
England staggered under the blows and leaned against the ropes, their own try-line right corner closing fast behind them. Scott Barrett passed the ball to Jamie George and New Zealand half-back Cortez Ratima stooped to collect the ball. He glanced around and saw three attackers lined up outside, with only two defenders in front. The attempt begins.
Across the gain line, Marcus Smith is watching. In England’s chaotic scrum, he never took his eyes off the ball, his mind constantly thinking about what would happen next. He watched Latima step by step, once, twice, and when Latima was about to release the ball, he strode to the free throw line. Smith encountered the pass in flight, caught it and headed downfield.
Time behaves in strange ways in Test rugby, and with Smith being one of the few players who can put in more minutes than the rest of us, Latima’s momentary hesitation was enough for him to break the game. He seemed to be 10 meters away before the others timed him, and by the time they caught up with him, he was 20 or 30 meters away. When the screen closed, he waited and waited until, at the last minute, he finally got the ball to George Furbank, who was chasing his inside shoulder. Firbank passed the ball to Emmanuel Faye-Waboso, who ran towards the post and scored.
This should be the winner and crowning moment of one of Smith’s best games to date. After 35 Tests and five years of international rugby, he is developing into a superb fly half. He took five penalties and a goal, scoring England’s only shot on goal, and produced a brilliant, quick kick to make it 50-22, even beating Wallace West. Titi made a save, allowing Ben Curry to earn a turnover.
Should have been the winner of the game. But that’s not the case. Because when Smith came off and striker Ben Spencer followed him, England lost the game. They stopped trying to throw punches and started absorbing them.
But if you don’t attack the All Blacks, you lose to them, and their comeback is starting to feel grimly predictable. You can beat New Zealand, but you can never really beat them. They just kept coming. In 10 games over the past decade, England have lost three by one run and four more by one run. This is one of the most painful things.
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There were three ways England could win this game in the final five minutes. One was when they held a five-point lead at the defensive plate, but couldn’t stop Mark Traea from scoring in the corner. The other time was when they were two points behind but a man stepped up and George Ford fired a shot into the goal that bounced off the post. On the third and final occasion, an offensive mix-up gave them one last chance to shoot, and Ford knocked the ball off the post. Despite all of England’s efforts, despite all of England’s efforts, the harsh truth is that they had all the chances they needed, but they were incapable of taking them.
It’s easy to speculate on hypothetical situations, but you can’t help but wonder what Smith might have done during those five minutes of work. Surprised that both Smith and Spencer were substituted, given how much control they both seemed to have over the game: “Must have been tactical reasons.”
What little attacking threat England had when Smith was on the field was completely gone once he was off. While Spencer made some mistakes on his first start for England, particularly when he had a few catches where he was too slow to react to the referee’s instructions, he knew how to manage the game.
Harry Randall is an excellent sniper, but when he tried to organize England’s attack in the final moments, he got into terrible trouble. Borthwick’s decision to substitute sounds like a decision made before the game rather than in response to the game.
They were left with wounded pride and more talk about what might have happened.
