"Hugely Disappointing" - All Blacks captain Scott Barrett reacts to England ending hopes for 'Grand Slam' tour

Before the All Blacks departed their homeland for their four-match Northern Tour, Scott Robertson's side set themselves the goal of achieving a long awaited 'Grand Slam' over their opponents of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales throughout the Autumn Nations Series. New Zealand eyed up the Home Nations quartet with nothing but four wins on the bounce satisfactory before returning back home.

The All Blacks paid homage to 'Invincible' predecessors, with the unbeaten touring side of 1924/25 on their mind as they set the goal of a clean sweep across their opponents. Robertson's men started strong with a 26-13 victory over Ireland, as the Northern Tour commenced in Chicago, before then scraping past the Scots 27-17 thanks to the late match-winning try and penalty from Damian McKenzie. However, New Zealand would come undone by England with the 'Grand Slam' dream blown apart by a commanding performance by Steve Borthwick's side, with one last stop against Wales lined-up for this Saturday.

"The Grand Slam was a goal we set a few weeks ago, but England pulled the rug from under us." All Blacks captain Scott Barrett said. "We'll quickly put our focus towards Wales and finishing strong. It is hugely disappointing to come away with a loss here. We have to bounce [back] and get better. It'll be a bit of a pebble under the beach towels."

All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson echoed the frustration of his dejected skipper, with the plaudits handed to the impressive display from the hosts at HQ. Robertson expressed how like last year's 24-22 Autumn Series win over England, it was another tough Test down in Twickenham.

"We definitely know how hard it is now." Robertson said. "It hurts because we wanted to put our name on the history board like the others have done and make them more proud."

"It was a tough Test last year, they were moments away. All Test footy feels like that at the moment. But they've taken their opportunities tonight where they probably didn't last time and we did through these small margins."

A decisive area of the Autumn Nations Series third round clash was decided by the boot, with George Ford and Beauden Barrett enjoying varying levels of success. Ford excelled with a brace of back-to-back drop goals and kicked England into clear distance with a well struck penalty, as well as marching his men down-field with a stand-out 50-22. Barrett had an uncharacteristically slower day from the boot, with missed conversions and wayward kicks summing up a tough outing for the All Blacks.

"England were pretty efficient when they got into our half in creating, and coming away with points." Scott Barrett said. "They probably had a few more entries into our half, and George Ford was pretty accurate with his drop goal and keeping that scoreboard ticking over. We had limited opportunities in that second half and they kicked well. The last couple of games we have finished quite well, but tonight we didn't do that."

Roberton reinforced the significant of Ford's footballing prowess, as the Sale man orchestrated England's comeback from 12-0 down at the Allianz. "We missed a couple of kicks for the corner, and then trying to be brave and put them in there, and keep the points, and the momentum going, didn't come. We missed them; they got a couple of dropped goals. Come out [after halftime], a yellow card in the second half and the game swings so quickly."

"They [England] came back and got a couple of droppies out of it. that we went to a point behind at halftime. If we came out and scored again and got them to chase, they would probably get out of their kicking structure. They won a lot of air battles. We won a few too, which was pleasing, but not enough."