All Blacks v England player ratings: Assessing the performance of the Englishmen against Scott Robertson’s side

Rating the performances of the hosts in England’s 33-19 victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham.

1 Fin Baxter – 6

Baby-faced prop put in a busy 55-minute shift with plenty of defensive work. Didn’t seem unduly troubled by Fletcher Newell, which will give coach Steve Borthwick confidence about the Pom Squad strategy of using heavy hitters off the bench.

2 Jamie George – 4

Early messy lineouts made it tricky for hosts to establish momentum. A grim day for the All Blacks could have been even worse if the hooker had found his jumpers. Not much around the park, either.

3 Joe Heyes – 6

Front-row stoushes were torrid and fared well against both Ethan de Groot and Tamaiti Williams.

4 Maro Itoje (c) – 7

An influential figure who always seems to lift his game against the black jersey. The early lineout woes must rest heavily on English skipper’s shoulders, but he tackled like a demon, topping the stats with 20 for the match, and was a breakdown menace.

5 Alex Coles – 5

He’ll be part of the crew trying to figure out what went wrong with the home side’s lineout this week. Elsewhere, he carried the ball well (despite one clutzy knock on) and threw his body into pile-ups with relish before departing in 55th minute.

6 Guy Pepper – 6

Scary sight when Pepper got ground early. Happily, he bounced back and got through a mountain of work, a constant if not decisive presence at a lot of breakdown collisions and gang tackles.

7 Sam Underhill – 6

Blew England’s chance of scoring a try in the fifth minute with a rubbish offload. Was far better in 22nd minute creating the space that led to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso threatening break. Nabbed a try as reward for solid outing.

8 Ben Earl – 8

Busy as ever, with 14 carries in first half alone. Always good against the All Blacks, the go-ahead No 8 was unlucky to land the 64th-minute yellow card. Once he returned, England had the game in the bag.

9 Alex Mitchell – 5

Kicked often and well. The English halfback wasn’t slick in his handling of the ball and was a weak link when big defence was needed. But he picked his runners well and was unlucky not to be awarded a try.

10 George Ford – 9

Exorcised demons from 2024, when he missed with what should have been match-winning three-point chances. Put an early restart out on the full leading straight to the All Blacks’ second try but stayed cool and found his rhythm from there. England’s playmaker was smartly involved in the build-up to Ollie Lawrence’s tryline run, and his two sensible droppies right on the halftime whistle got the hosts within one point. Terribly unlucky to have that try disallowed. His cool-headed thinking showed the value of getting points (even if it’s only three of them) whenever they’re on offer.

11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso – 7

Menacing runner who starred against the All Blacks when running on left wing in 2024 was equally threatening in this match. Made three line breaks before halftime, but was less influential in second spell. Got Mike Catted by Leicester Faina’anuku in 32nd minute, but Feyi-Waboso will know he was the most impressive winger on the field.

12 Fraser Dingwall – 7

Show-and-go shuffle left Peter Lakai flatfooted in fifth minute, and put in loads of solid muscle work after that. Was accurate in all he did as part of a tidy midfeld partnership. Benefitted from awful All Blacks’ defence and Ollie Lawrence’s delivery to score in 54th minute.

13 Ollie Lawrence – 8

All Blacks struggled to contain this terrific, granite-hard midfielder. Lawrence’s mighty boomfah run bounced off Leroy Carter to get his side back in the game with a 24th-minute try and he put Dingwall through for another seven-pointer. Always made the gainline for his side.

14 Tom Roebuck – 6

Solid work when the ball was in the air. Did a nice job to pick up the late, scrambling final try.

15 Freddie Steward – 6

Brought terrific spark and accuracy in opening quarter. A good early hit on Leicester Faina’auku forced a knock on, then one minute later the fullback sparked England’s opening dash with terrific kick and regather. Shame he had to go with head knock in 21st minute.

Reserves:

16 Luke Cowan-Dickie – 6

Lineout woes continued when replacement hooker came on, but the England bench forwards carried the game for their side.

17 Ellis Genge – 6

Pom Squad scrummagers bagged a powerhouse scrum penalty on All Blacks put in. They got the job done, but coach Borthwick might have hoped for a bit more dynamism on the ball from Genge.

18 Will Stuart – 6

Struggled when scrum was down to seven men, but was part of the pack that held firm as flustered visitors pushed hard.

19 Chandler Cunningham-South – N/A

A couple of minutes in a cameo cap for England’s Kiwi.

20. Tom Curry – 6

Thirty-five minutes of important grunt work as the English shut down All Blacks’ hopes. Spilled the ball when his side were hot on attack but found plenty to do while Earl was in the sin bin.

21 Henry Pollock – 7

Highly rated and easily spotted with BoJo hair. Light-footed loosie is an interesting hybrid player who has a bit of the Jorja Miller about him. Pollock got involved plenty with some terrific breakdown work, including a crucial turnover. He fluffed a 58th-minute chance for England to strike from deep when he delayed a pass to Tom Roebuck, but was quick to pounce and hack the ball ahead to set up the winger for the final try. Ran as a midfielder in final minutes.

22 Ben Spencer – 5

An error-free, low-impact 18-minute stint for the replacement halfback.

23 Marcus Smith – 6

Influential in this fixture in 2024, when he started at No 10. Busy and nippy throughout a 60-minute run. Was perhaps a bit lucky not to have what looked like a no-arms hit on Leroy Carter in 29th minute reviewed by TMO.