Stephen Perofeta
6 – Solid at the back for a 52min shift. Set up Ardie Savea try. Seems likely to be on the bench for the second test.
Sevu Reece
9 – Brilliant on his international comeback. Never stopped looking for work. Kicked a 50-22 under intense pressure. Scored a try. Made a couple of nice tackles. Chased kicks. Southland rugby’s new hero?
Rieko Ioane
4 – Out of sorts for much of the game.
Jordie Barrett
5 – Also relatively quietly in the midfield. Seemed to be targeted by the English rush defence.
Mark Tele’a
8 – Did not rack up huge metres, but it was not that sort of game. Always posed a threat, and you could sense England were on edge whenever he received the ball.
Damian McKenzie
7 – Missed a couple of gettable kicks and would have been in the firing line had his timed-out penalty attempt proved fatal. But created some nice stuff, scrambled under pressure, was brave under the high ball, and made five tackles.
TJ Perenara
6 – Was doing a reasonable job in his test comeback before succumbing to injury at the break.
Ardie Savea
6 – Scored a try and battled hard against the physical English but did not stand out.
Dalton Papali’i
6 – Certainly works hard. His 14 tackles were the most (by five) of the All Blacks. Not really noticed otherwise.
Samipeni Finau
5 – Did some fine early work disrupting the English lineout and made a couple of trademark heavy tackles. Otherwise anonymous.
Patrick Tuipulotu
7 – Just a warrior, carrying on where he left off from the Blues’ championship season. Perhaps ran out of steam a little.
Scott Barrett
8 – A win, several dominant tackles, some rugged carries and no real run-ins with the referee. Fine start to his captaincy career.
Tyrel Lomax
7 – Played his part in a scrum that was devastating at times.
Codie Taylor
5 – A couple of lineout issues and seemed a little rusty after playing little rugby this year. But defence was good.
Ethan de Groot
8 – The beloved southern man was magnificent. Gave the English front row a good towelling at scrum time. Between EDG and Reece, was this one of Southland rugby’s finest hours?
RESERVES
Asafo Aumua
7 – Looked impressive in his first test since 2021.
Ofa Tu’ungafasi
6 – Steady hand as always.
Fletcher Newell
5 – Plugged away in the dark.
Tupou Vaa’i
6 – Provided plenty of energy when he replaced Finau.
Luke Jacobson
5 – Made a couple of important tackles.
Finlay Christie
6 – Did what he always does: kicked reasonably well and defended solidly.
Anton Lienert-Brown
5 – Only got 10 minutes.
Beauden Barrett
6 – Enough signs of the great Beaudy to assume he will wear 15 at Eden Park.
