Will Stuart stuns New Zealand to rescue remarkable draw for England | Autumn

Beneath a dark forbidding November sky came a finale to light up a previously All Black night. Three tries in the last eight minutes of a game that had seemed well out of England’s reach altered the entire complexion of the evening and threw up one of the more unlikely game-saving heroes.

The replacement prop Will Stuart will never top this rescue act, his late double rescuing an unlikely draw from the jaws of a heavy defeat.

England had trailed 25-6 entering the final 10 minutes, seemingly down and out. At no stage did it seem that there would be anything other than a New Zealand win until Beauden Barrett was sent to the sin-bin with nine minutes left and the cavalry charge began. Stuart’s close-range brace, sandwiched either side of a Freddie Steward score, yielded the first Twickenham draw in this fixture for 25 years.

The All Blacks will wonder how on earth they threw it away. They have not been sighted in south-west London for four years but for much of the game this felt just like old times. Direct carrying, heavy pressure on the England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet, a clever mix of diagonal cross-kicks and smart running angles combined to give the visitors an advantage they would usually maximise. Fair play to England for keeping going and confounding the laws of rugby gravity.

If they had played with as much dynamism and purpose for the first 70 minutes, though, it would have helped. Eddie Jones will be grateful to his “finishers” for saving the day but he will also know that New Zealand, for long periods, looked comfortably the better team. The late twist was all the more unexpected because absolutely no one, home fans included, saw it coming.

Until the last hectic moments, from England’s perspective, this had largely been a black and white horror movie. Only three minutes had elapsed when Van Poortvliet’s attempted pass to Owen Farrell following a lineout was picked off by a flying Dalton Papalii who raced 45 metres to complete the interception score.

England’s task was soon to become even more mountainous. Again New Zealand used the cross kick to good effect and went on to establish a good platform in their opponents’ 22. Driven mauls are an increasing discussion point in the game but there could be no arguing about the expertise with which the All Blacks splintered the home pack to send their hooker, Codie Taylor, over.

Jordie Barrett’s second successful conversion made it 14-0 with barely nine minutes played. The scoreboard would have made even bleaker English reading had a potential third New Zealand try by Rieko Ioane not been chalked off because the centre had collared Farrell around the neck at a preceding ruck.

Until their composure went pear-shaped, the All Blacks looked a different team to the side humbled by Ireland in the summer. Their new forwards coach, Jason Ryan, has tightened up their set piece, in particular, and with the returning Brodie Retallick packing down behind their hefty tight head…