Jamie George laments ‘fine margins’ after England slip to New Zealand defeat

England captain Jamie George reflected on the fine margins that allowed New Zealand to claim a 16-15 victory in their series opener in Dunedin.

The tourists led 15-10 when Marcus Smith conjured a try for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso in the 47th minute but two penalties from Damian McKenzie saved the All Blacks from an upset at Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Smith missed eight points from the kicking tee, including one penalty almost in front of the posts, as England fell just short on a day when a famous victory was there for the taking.

“First and foremost I’m very proud of this team. Not a lot of teams come to New Zealand and do that and that shows a huge amount of growth in this team,” George told Sky Sports.

“We wanted to make people back home very proud and I think we did that with our effort. It was very fine margins.

“There are definitely some areas to look at – scrum is one, breakdown is probably another.

“We’ll do a lot of honest work this week and make sure we go to Eden Park fully prepared. We’ll learn and we’ll grow and we’ll get better.

“We’ve got to learn fast, which is something we pride ourselves on. We’ll be as prepared as we possibly can be. There will be a few sore bodies.

“We have to get the bodies and the minds right because this is a really exciting week for us.”

England were kept in the first half by their tenacious defending and having crept ahead through Feyi-Waboso, they then became locked in a furious tussle for control of the first Test.

“It was fine margins, two tries apiece. There wasn’t much in that at all,” head coach Steve Borthwick said.

“The second half was a real arm wrestle in the middle of the field. Neither team got into the opposition 22 very often. There wasn’t much in it.

“Immense credit to New