At least England showed some fight.

At least they played some real rugby after the kick and yawn which had gone before.

But they still were well beaten 19-6 by an ordinary New Zealand side and the Twickenham fans still went home wondering when Martin Johnson's team are going to show enough creativity and imagination to mix it with the world's best.

Just one try from three autumn internationals tells the story.

They cannot fault the Twickenham crowd. Johnson had asked the faithful to get behind them and they belted out Sweet Chariot in a bid to work some lubrication into England's faltering machine.

But if the crowd did their part then England were let down again by a lack of conviction at the heart of the men in white shirts.

Jonny Wilkinson again failed to exert his authority at fly-half. He is as brave as a lion in the tackle. His goal-kicking is exemplary but his decision-making is tentative at best. It leaves England without an orchestrator and that is Johnson's conundrum.

Well, one of them. He also needs to find a stirring leader in his own image rather than the blandness of Steve Borthwick. And a three-quarter line with genuine penetration.

But it was not all bad. Indeed, there actually were some of that losing manager's buzzword - "positives" - for a change in what was a scrappy match.

It was at least possible to see what England were trying to do.

Bringing in a tank of a centre in Ayoola Erinle, a powerful ball carrier in second-row Simon Shaw and a destroyer in Joe Worsley was designed to punch holes in New Zealand's defence.

The idea was to get beyond the gain line, provide forward momentum.

It did not help that Worsley lasted all of two minutes before limping off with a damaged knee.

But, credit to the men in white shirts, they did not let it affect their game plan to get in the faces of the All Blacks.

Best of the "positives" was Shaw. He was magnificent, catching, tackling, driving, giving England's pack what it has been lacking. A real leader. The sort who lifts those around him.

Flanker Lewis Moody once again was fearless. Tom Croft was a ubiquitous deputy for Worsley.

Those were the improvements.

Yet hooker Dylan Hartley threw a punch and gave away two needless penalties which cost points while England's forward momentum too often was arrested by technical deficiencies as much as men in black.

Pity that, because this was not the intimidating New Zealand unit of old. They lost to France in the summer. They had lost four times already this year. No longer do they carry an aura of invincibility, despite the majesty of captain Richie McCaw.

In fact, Dan Carter, universally regarded as the best fly-half in the world, had a 'Barry Crocker' in antipodean parlance. A shocker to the rest of us.

He missed two straightforward penalties from in front of the posts in the first half.

He missed touch regularly. Failed to make those trademark breaks. He looked rattled and that perhaps was the best indicator of England's in-your-face strategy.

That it didn't work was down to a lack of cohesion and class, although rugby, in one respect, did demonstrate its class. And its commonsense.

How? Well, it came after 19 minutes when New Zealand fullback Mils Muliaina appeared to go over in the corner with England wing Ugo Monye clinging to him.

A tight decision. Referee Jonathan Kaplan was unsure. Video referee Nigel Whitehouse was called upon. Three or four camera angles and 45 seconds later Muliaina's foot was clearly seen to be in touch before he touched down. No try. Justice done and seen to be done. Simple.

Was FIFA's Sepp Blatter watching? Probably not, but if such technology was used to help football's referees then we would have been spared us all that angst over Thierry Henry's handball and the Republic of Ireland might be on their way to the World Cup in South Africa.

Rugby has got it right. England, it must be said, are still a long way from doing so. end