England 16-26 New Zealand: All Black back play still enough to cancel England's forward power

England produced a rousing second-half performance at Twickenham but it was not enough.

The All Blacks stormed into a 14-0 lead after 20 minutes with tries from Hosea Gear and Kieran Read and they led 17-3 at the interval.

England, on the back of a powerful scrummaging performance, hit back in the second half and engineered a debut Test try for Dylan Hartley.

New Zealand finished the match on the back foot and with Jerome Kaino in the sin-bin but they succeeded in holding England at bay with Dan Carter booting 16 points.

England made one change from their 21-20 victory over Australia in the summer, with Andrew Sheridan returning at loose-head prop.

The All Blacks, who had a 15-Test unbeaten run ended by the Wallabies last weekend, handed a Test debut to the former Kiwi rugby league star Sonny Bill Williams.

New Zealand looked to move the ball wide at every opportunity and England received a let-off when Mils Muliaina brushed the touchline as he danced around Ashton.

Carter missed a penalty but England could not stem the tide forever and conceded two tries in the space of four minutes.

The first was created by Williams. The debutant centre drew two men in midfield before offloading one-handed to Kaino, the marauding flanker who charged deep into the England half before finding Gear.

Chris Ashton did his best to bundle the All Blacks wing into touch but the try was awarded and Carter converted from the touchline.

Carter carved England open from the restart and Ashton had to retreat to collect Gear's chip and concede a five-metre scrum. England halted Gear's run on the crash ball but Read drove over the line by the posts and Carter's simple conversion opened the All Blacks a 14-0 lead.

Flood nudged England on to the scoreboard and the pack then began to put the All Black scrum under pressure to win a penalty.

Flood kicked for the corner, England secured the lineout and laid siege to the All Blacks line but they could not hammer through.

The All Blacks recovered possession and when England captain Lewis Moody was spotted hitting a ruck from the side, Carter slotted the penalty.

England's dominance of New Zealand's scrum grew in the second half and Flood slotted a second penalty but Carter responded immediately after Thompson had been penalised for hands in the ruck.

Hartley came on for Thompson and the hooker made an immediate impact, scoring his first Test try to bring England back into the game.

Williams launched another All Blacks attack with a one-handed off-load but Ashton claimed Muliaina's chip forward and sparked an England counter-attack. Mike Tindall took the ball on and Foden slipped the pass to Flood, who stabbed a grubber kick in behind the defence for Ashton to chase. The England wing appeared to be offside but he regathered and Hartley came barrelling through to claim a short pass from Flood and stretch for the line.

England had a real momentum but kept shooting themselves in the foot, allowing Carter to strike two penalties either side of one from Flood that kept the All Blacks two scores clear.

England spent the last 15 minutes camped in New Zealand territory and Kaino was sin-binned as the pressure began to tell.

New Zealand captain Richie McCaw said: "I think we are still guilty of giving away too many chances. There were times when we had breaks and did not hang on to the ball."

England boss Martin Johnson said he was frustrated with the team's start but admitted the second half was better. "There was lots of good stuff," he said. "We looked rusty a few times in the first half. The good thing for us is we go again next week."

Scorers: England: Try: Hartley. Con: Flood. Pens: Flood 3. New Zealand: Tries: Gear, Read. Cons: Carter 2. Pens: Carter 4.

England: Foden; Ashton, Tindall, Hape, Cueto; Flood, Youngs; Sheridan, S Thompson, Cole, Lawes, Palmer, Croft, Moody (capt), Easter. Replacements: Hartley, Wilson, Attwood, Fourie, Care, Hodgson, D Armitage.

New Zealand: Muliaina; Rokocoko, Williams, Nonu, H Gear; Carter, Mathewson; Woodcock, Mealamu, O Franks, Thorn, Whitelock, Kaino, McCaw (capt), Read. Replacements: Elliot, Afoa, Boric, Messam, Ellis, Donald, Toeava.

Referee: R Poite (France).