Stuart at the double as England snatch dramatic 25-25 draw with New Zealand

TWICKENHAM, UK: Replacement prop Will Stuart scored two late tries as England came from behind to snatch a scarcely credible 25-25 draw against New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday.

The All Blacks twice led by 14 points, having caught England cold with two converted tries in the opening eight minutes through flanker Dalton Papali’i and hooker Codie Taylor.

Rieko Ioane’s superb try early in the second half made it 22-6 before Beauden Barrett added a drop-goal to put New Zealand a seemingly impregnable 19 points ahead.

England, however, hit back with three tries in the closing nine minutes, Stuart twice powering over either side of a try by full-back Freddie Steward.

Marcus Smith’s conversions of those last two England scores helped seal only the second draw in 43 meetings between the two sides following a 26-26 all encounter at Twickenham in 1997.

“They came out firing, we added errors on errors like the first game against Argentina,” England captain Owen Farrell told Amazon Prime after his side started their Autumn Nations Series with a 30-29 defeat by the Pumas before thrashing Japan 52-13 last weekend.

Farrell, winning his 100th England cap, added: “We’re understanding each other a bit more. That got tested a bit today but we stuck together. That was brilliant.”

This was the first meeting between the teams since England’s 19-7 win in a 2019 World Cup semifinal in Japan that ended the All Blacks’ eight-year reign as world champions.

Defeat on Saturday would have condemned New Zealand to their worst calendar year since 1998, when they lost five matches.

The All Blacks have lost this year to Ireland (twice), South Africa and Argentina and coach Ian Foster was left frustrated by the way the All Blacks let slip a