England were the better side, says All Blacks coach Steve Hansen - BBC Sport
England were the "better team" and deserved to reach the World Cup final, says New Zealand coach Steve Hansen.
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union

England were the "better team" and deserved to reach the World Cup final, says New Zealand coach Steve Hansen.

England produced a dominant performance to beat the three-time world champions 19-7 in the semi-final in Yokohama.

It was a first defeat for the All Blacks at the tournament since 2007, having won the past two editions.

"There's a lot of hurt. That adversity will feed a lot of All Blacks teams in the future, so we'll find one positive out of it," said Hansen.

"Congratulations to England. They were deserved winners. You had two very good sides going at each other and the team that took the game won the game.

"We've got no regrets. I'm really proud of our team, they've done a tremendous job for their country and tonight they weren't good enough.

"We have to take that on the chin and so do the people back home."
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Manu Tuilagi crossed after 98 seconds for England, who opened a 13-0 lead before Ardie Savea responded with a try 23 minutes from time.

George Ford kicked two further penalties to earn England a place in the final for the first time in 12 years.

Hansen was New Zealand assistant coach in 2007 when the All Blacks were beaten by France at the quarter-final stage.

"Having been here in 2007 it's disappointing," said Hansen, who took charge in 2012 and oversaw the All Blacks' 2015 success.

"The big difference is the fact that we stepped up to the plate today - we played as well as we possibly could and just got beaten by a better team.

"England created the goforward in the game, we struggled to dominate them at the set-piece or breakdown.

"When you're going forward you get all the 50-50 decisions - I'm not trying to make an excuse, that's just what happens in the game.

"You start making fundamental errors because you're desperate; you start offloading balls that you wouldn't have to if the scoreboard was in your favour. That's how I knew the guys were trying."

Hansen dismissed any suggestions his side were not "hungry" having headed into the match on an 18-game winning run at the World Cup and as two-time defending champions.

"The boys are desperately hurting," he added. "You put a lot of time and energy into trying to come and win the thing.

"If you don't achieve what you wanted to do you have to put your big boy pants on and stand up and be counted."

'England gave us a punch on the nose'

New Zealand wing George Bridge says Tuilagi's try inside two minutes put England on top from the off.

"They came out with a hiss and a roar, gave us a punch to the nose from the get-go," he said.

"Their big ball carriers really got the momentum and defensively they were really sharp.

"When they hit their numbers they put a lot of pressure on us and then when they were short of numbers they held and pushed really well."

All Blacks scrum-half Aaron Smith says England's dominance at the breakdown and set-piece hurt his side.

"They were great there. I felt in the first 30 minutes we were bending them and finding half-gaps but we were just missing key cleanouts," he said.

"Their guys were all over the ball all night. They were at us at set-piece, they were at us in our phase and they kept turning us around in their phase-play attack by kicking it a lot.

"We just weren't able to get out of our half at critical times."