All Blacks survive huge scare after star's rare 'time out'

The All Blacks have begun a new era under Scott Robertson with a tight-fought, one-point win over England in Dunedin.

All told, the visitors came up just short in a 16-15 defeat under the roof of Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Each team scored two tries but it was the boot that would prove decisive. New Zealand failed to convert either of its tries while England converted just one.

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In the end, two of three penalty goals kicked by the home side sealed victory. The visitors, meanwhile, only nailed one of their three penalty goal opportunities.

"Immensely proud," said captain Scott Barrett.

"To be honest, I think (that was) a 50-50 call there at the end. It could have gone either way with that. I guess we'll ride our luck. Immensely proud with how we've started."

The scores were level at half-time. The All Blacks scored two unconverted tries while England scored one try in the first 40 minutes and kicked a penalty goal.

Of the discussions at half-time, Barrett said: "We talked about wearing them down with our ball carry, our breakdown. They stayed in the arm wrestle. 

"We probably overplayed at times but that last quarter we managed to put them in their corner and won that territory battle."

The All Blacks conceded an early penalty inside five minutes, giving Marcus Smith a shot on goal. However, he hooked the ball and the scores stayed nil-all.

The first points of the night came in the 16th minute when Damian McKenzie kicks from just outside the 22-metre mark across the field to Sevu Reece. Tommy Freeman tried to drag the Crusaders star down but the winger rolled over to score.

It took the TMO to confirm England's first try of the match, courtesy of Maro Itoje who picked the ball off the back of the ruck to barge over. Smith converted the try to give England a 7-5 lead.

An England knock-on was the catalyst for New Zealand's second try in the 25th minute. Stephen Perofeta dummied, causing the England defence to rush up and create space. Perofeta duly passed the ball out to Ardie Savea for his 25th try in Test match rugby. From the wing, McKenzie missed his second conversion of the night. Still, the All Blacks led 10-7.

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The All Blacks gave away three points on the stroke of half-time. Despite not making much headway as the siren sounded, the home side persisted until one England player got their hands on the ball in the ruck and forced a penalty. The All Blacks were pinged for not releasing and Smith quickly slotted the penalty kick to level the scores at 10-apiece.

After England failed to convert a penalty kick less than four minutes into the second half, it wasn't long before they struck the first blow. The visitors patiently waited and caught the All Blacks short out wide allowing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso on the wing to score. Smith missed the conversion for a 15-10 lead.

England gave away consecutive penalties to gift the All Blacks the lead, giving them what would be the decisive one-point advantage on the stroke of 65 minutes. 

With two minutes remaining, England gave away one more penalty but McKenzie wasted too much time and the referee blew his whistle, timing out the kick.

"Wow! Big call," said Grant Nisbett on commentary.

"Timed out. Didn't get a chance to kick it. You don't see that very often, if at all."

There were nervous moments at the death as England kicked for touch and took a lineout just 10 metres inside the opposing half.

Ultimately, a penalty decided the match. England failed to release the ball and the whistle blew for full-time.

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Barrett labelled the penalty at the death a 50-50 call while England's captain Jamie George wouldn't make a decisive 

"It's hard to tell from the sideline," he said.

"We're going to analyse everything. The breakdown was one thing that probably let us down a little bit tonight. We'll see if that can be a focal point for us next week and if that's the case it takes the referee out of our hands."

The All Blacks will host England at Eden Park on July 13.