England are 'not far away'
Although his side suffered their fifth consecutive defeat to the All Blacks, coach Stuart Lancaster feels his side is not far off the world's best team.
Having been whitewashed in New Zealand earlier this year, England pushed New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday but found themselves coming up short once again.
But Lancaster, without seven British and Irish Lions, was encouraged by the way his injury-hit side performed.
"We've played them four times now this year and we haven't got the right result but we don't feel we're far away," Lancaster said.
"We've got some good players watching the game today so we'll keep our confidence and maintain the direction in which we're going," he said.
The England coach pointed out that the All Blacks are a settled unit that are at the end of their season, and said that their experience ultimately told.
"The All Blacks have played eight games and two-and-a-half months together since we last played them and I thought we put them under pressure.
"We created opportunities in attack but obviously there's a period of play they constructed that shows why they have the experience to close out a game like that.
"That's what we've got to get," he said.
While New Zealand face Scotland, who've never beaten the All Blacks, in Edinburgh next weekend, England face South Africa at Twickenham.
The Springboks – who suffered a shock 29-15 loss to Ireland in Dublin later on Saturday – remain the only major side Lancaster's England have yet to beat and recently ended the All Blacks' 22-match unbeaten run.
"Now we're playing the number two side in the world, who have beaten the number one side in the world, so the challenge is just as big next week," said Lancaster.
AFP
