Kyle Eastmond and Sam Tomkins were not even first half-back choices for their clubs at the start of the season, but the 20-year-olds played off a dominant England pack like a pair of seasoned veterans on Saturday.

Their footwork, vision and willingness to take on the opposition line are principally why Tony Smith chose them to direct operations, but the nuggety Eastmond’s persistent tackling and Tomkins’s snuffing out of Benji Marshall, the New Zealand playmaker, further vindicated the selection of two of the game’s brightest talents.

The scuttling Eastmond was on hand to take Sam Burgess’s offload for the first of England’s three first-half tries and Tomkins improvised superbly on the last tackle in floating a cross-field kick over the head of the stranded Bryson Goodwin for the first of Peter Fox’s two tries in five minutes on the right wing. Fox, having been overlooked for the games against France and Australia, had been at fault early on in coming off his line in search of Kieran Foran, the novice New Zealand centre. It left a yawning gap for Goodwin to claim the Kiwis’ first try, but Fox made amends with invaluable service in drifting infield in search of the ball and slickly finished off a scrum move involving Eastmond and Chris Bridge for the third try.

Eastmond, Tomkins and Kevin Sinfield peppered the back three with high balls as England maintained the pressure. There was no let-up in the ferocity of the forward exchanges, but the Kiwis were harried into mistakes, though Ben Matulino pulled back a try a minute after the break.

England hung on to a six-point lead until the 70th minute, when Adam Blair charged down an attempted dropped goal by Sinfield, Iosia Soliola knocked on and a subsequent penalty against Blair for holding down Shaun Briscoe beneath the posts offered Sinfield a simple two points.

“We didn’t put our best foot forward, but the English didn’t allow us to,” Stephen Kearney, the Kiwis coach, said. “They were wonderful.”

Scorers: England: Tries: Eastmond, Fox 2. Goals: Sinfield 4. New Zealand: Tries: Goodwin, Matulino. Goals: Goodwin 2.
England: S Briscoe; P Fox, C Bridge, M Shenton, R Hall; S Tomkins, K Eastmond; A Morley, K Sinfield, J Graham, J Peacock, G Ellis, S Burgess. Interchange: E Crabtree, J Wilkin, B Westwood, J Roby.
New Zealand: L Hohaia; S Perrett, K Foran, J Sau, B Goodwin; B Marshall, N Fien; F-P Nuuausala, T Leuluai, F Moimoi, I Soliola, F Pritchard, A Blair. Interchange: I Luke, J Lima, B Matulino, J Waerea-Hargreaves.
Referee: T Alibert (France).