Fired-up England defeat New Zealand at Twickenham

New Zealand lose for first time in 20 games while Australia defeat Wales.

Chris Ashton celebrates his try for England against New Zealand.

Chris Robshaw, the England captain, said criticism after their loss to South Africa a week ago had helped motivate them to bounce back and stun world champions New Zealand at Twickenham yesterday.

Tries from Brad Barritt, Chris Ashton and Manu Tuilagi inspired England to a 38-21 victory to give the All Blacks their first defeat in 20 games.

The result came seven days after England and Robshaw had their tactics heavily questioned after losing 16-15 to South Africa, where a decision to kick a late penalty rather than attempt to score a try proved costly.

Robshaw said: "People had written us off. That fuelled the fire. Everyone ran out there and believed we could do it.

"We had a bit of luck. We had the bounce of the ball but to beat the world champions you need a bit of that."

England had moved into a 15-0 lead in the game in west London thanks to the boot of Owen Farrell, but the All Blacks cut the gap back to one-point in the second half thanks to tries from Julian Savea and Kieran Read.

But England roared back with three tries of their own to wrap up the success.

Farrell finished with a tally of 17 points from five penalties and two conversions.

Stuart Lancaster, the England coach, said: "We mixed up our game. The scrum was good. The defence was outstanding."

Richie McCaw, the New Zealand captain, who will now start a sabbatical from the game, said of the defeat: "England played particularly well and credit to them."

Elsewhere yesterday, a try in the last minute from fly-half Kurtley Beale saw Australia come from behind to beat Wales 14-12 in Cardiff.

Wales had led 12-9 going into the closing stages thanks to four penalties from Leigh Halfpenny, but Beale, who had kicked all of Australia's prior points, dived over in the corner with 26 seconds remaining on the clock to deny the Welsh.

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