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IT HAS come to something when there is an air of relief around the stadium after England have gone down by a margin that is less than embarrassing to a misfiring All Black side.

The first thing to say about this final match in the Investec Challenge Series is that in some areas, England were better and more committed than they were against South Africa last week and a few parts of Twickenham were at least prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt. But before England’s management and players — or any other people tending towards supreme optimism — start talking about a corner being turned, it must be remembered that New Zealand were playing their fifth Test match in five weeks, that they could easily have scored at least two more tries in the final quarter and that Dan Carter uncharacteristically missed five kicks at goal.

Indeed, this was palpably the worst New Zealand performance of the five, even if it marked a resounding Grand Slam over the four home unions, a magnificent achievement considering the denuding of their squad. They were way, way off the pace of play that they set against Wales a week ago, but they will be thrilled to get on the plane home and to put up their feet after a tour of solid achievement.

As for England, it is not quite so difficult today to find areas of brightness for them, although it is still far more difficult than it should be. The nation of scrummage and power is now turning out feeble packs of forwards, as shown by the disintegration of the England scrummage once Phil Vickery had departed in the final quarter and by the lack of power and authority and of real hard-nosed No 6s in the team.

Nick Kennedy did give his team a go-to man in the lineout, but if you take away the power in the first half of Nick Easter and the industry of James Haskell, you have a pack that, frankly, betrays England’s proud history.

And if that were not enough, they also forgot the laws, or at least the referee’s interpretation of them. Incredibly, England had to play almost half the match with a man down, as a sorry procession of Lee Mears, Vickery, Toby Flood and Tom Rees, departed to the bin after offences largely at the breakdown. Alain Rolland, the Irish referee, was merciless on England, often ridiculously so, but to lose four men to yellow cards showed a total lack of nous and, probably, leadership on and off the field.

And while England did win possession, and even managed to mess up a couple of New Zealand’s shortened lineouts, they had few ideas on what to do with it. Flood struggled badly at fly-half, being part of a dismal England kicking game. The Leicester man is one of those No 10s who never look comfortable when moving up to play in the traffic. Danny Care tried his best to be a little terrier behind the pack but the scoring power of the team barely existed, and, even though until the hour it was close, you simply could not see how England were ever going to get ahead unless Rolland turned his attention to the opposition.

While this match was better by England, it was still nothing remotely resembling how an England national rugby team should be. It has been a dire autumn and all those in the England camp retiring to deflect criticism by blaming various pointed messengers should really look inwards because at this rate the lower middle of the table is all that England can hope for in the RBS Six Nations.

Then came England’s moment of potential glory and eventually, agony. Armitage took the kick-off, burst into space and in conjunction with Flutey, he sent Easter hammering up the middle of the field into oceans of space. Easter looked to be going all the way when he was felled by a desperate ankle tap from Muliaina. England re-cycled the ball, and Care burst to the right, even veering backwards as he desperately sought the one attacking supporter which would have brought a try.

Sadly, there was no-one on the horizon, England tried to batter over from close range, but eventually Lipman knocked on, Cowan lifted the siege with a long diagonal burst and staggeringly, he was levelled by a high tackle from Flood. England went from hope to desperation within seconds, and as Haskell returned to the field, he passed Flood on his way off.

Still, England were having every bit as much of the game but were still conceding penalties. Armitage did kick a good goal to make it a hopeful 12-6 to New Zealand and it was odd indeed when Flood re-emerged, after the third period when England had played with only 14 men, that Flood returned instead of Cipriani being introduced

It was therefore supremely ironic that New Zealand made the game safe just as England were restored to the full XV. New Zealand had already taken control when they scored an absolutely dazzling try. A bouncing ball from the left evaded Nonu, but the centre had his wits about him and he doubled cleverly outside Conrad Smith on the loop. As England’s outnumbered defence were drawn in, delightful angles and passing by Joe Rokocoko put Muliaina over in the corner.

Carter was still missing with his boot and fired wide with the conversion but Muliaina could easily have had a hat trick before he scored his second try. It came when Carter cleverly poked the ball in the air off the outside of his boot to the full-back, who had had an easy canter to the corner.

As an example of England’s forward collapse, Payne then coughed up the ball in an attacking ruck, and Kevan Mealamu and Sivivatu sent Nonu on his way and the burly All Black No 12 sealed the slam with a 50-metre sprint to the line.