England pulled off the great escape to steal a famous draw with New Zealand - only to be then booed for not going for the win.
Super sub Will Stuart came off the bench to bag two tries as they scored three times in a dramatic final eight minutes to recover a 19-point deficit.
But with the All Blacks shellshocked and a man down, Marcus Smith chose to kick the ball out and end the game.
The cheers of an 81,364 crowd which had lifted the roof as Owen Farrell’s men came back from the dead, turned to jeers.
And All Blacks boss Ian Foster expressed his surprise that England had not gone for the win.
“If we flipped it I would have liked our guys to have a had a crack,” he said.
“I am not sure what the tactics were. They were running hot for seven or eight minutes and probably thought getting back for a draw was a massive achievement.”
Ben Youngs was having none of that, however, throwing his support fully behind his half-back partner.
“Do we want to kick the ball out? No,” he said. “But ultimately the right decision at that point was to kick the ball out.
“I’m sure people would have said we should have run it, but that’s not how it works. You run it, get jackaled, they kick the three and everyone goes “you should have kicked it out”.
“If there were a couple more minutes on the clock we would probably not have kicked it out, but you play the situation.”
Eddie Jones preferred to heap praise on Smith for his thrilling part in a comeback that will live long in the memory.
“We are disappointed we did not win but a draw is a draw,” he said. “When you get absolutely pulverised by them, like we were in the first half, you have to stay in the fight or you get blown away.
“That’s the best 40 I’ve seen Marcus play in Test rugby. Aggressive, decisive, wanted to own the game. Not as an individual but as part of the team. I thought that was a big step forward for the young man.”
Never before had New Zealand let slip a 14-point half-time lea and England’s stirring comeback allowed captain Owen Farrell to celebrate his 100th cap in style.
That had looked unlikely when the Kiwis flew out of the traps and caught England cold with 14 unanswered points inside the opening 10 minutes.
First Jack van Poortvliet had his pass intercepted by Dylan Papali’i, who ran it back for the try. Then Codie Taylor doubled the advantage from a maul.
Rieko Ioane made it three on 50 minutes and when Jordie Barrett dropped a goal to extend the margin to 25-6 England looked dead and buried.
But on came the cavalry, Barrett was sin-binned and, as Jones put it, “all of a sudden someone blows some magic dust ad the passes start to stick”.
Stuart scored, then Freddie Steward followed him over. England fans were now on their feet and with 78 seconds left Stuart struck again to spark pandemonium.
Smith’s conversion tied the match and though they did not go on to win it, that really should not detract from one of rugby’s great comebacks.
ENGLAND - Tries: Stuart 2, Steward. Cons: Smith 2. Pens: Farrell, Smith.
NEW ZEALAND - Tries: Papali’i, Taylor, Ioane. Cons: J Barrett 2. Pen: J Barrett. Drop: J Barrett.
