England 6 New Zealand 32

First, the plaudits. This was New Zealand's second grand slam since 2005. The All Blacks have laid waste to the best of British and Irish rugby with barely a bead of sweat lost. England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, between them, failed to score a solitary try against this wonderful rugby team. New Zealand are so far superior in discipline, basic skills and game management that it verges on the embarrassing. They return home tonight the best side on the planet by some distance. It was a pleasure watching them deliver their lesson.

Now England. As an exercise in damage limitation, this performance had some merit. At least England were borderline competitive for an hour. At least they fronted up up-front. But at what cost?

England were so desperate to stop the All Blacks building rhythm and tempo that they conceded penalty after penalty. If five-eighth Dan Carter had brought his kicking boots along to Twickenham, England would have lost by a bucket load. As it was, it was the third game against the "big three" that they could not get within two scores of the opposition.

England's flow of penalties was so regular and so persistent that Irish referee Alain Rolland sent four England players to the sin-bin, and, frankly, he could have clobbered more. Toby Flood (high tackle), Lee Mears (killing the ball), James Haskell (elbowing) and replacement Tom Rees (killing the ball) all had spells on the sidelines. You can't win rugby matches at this level with half a team, especially against New Zealand. If this England squad are reduced to serial offending just to keep in contention, then that is a pretty damning indictment of their rugby prowess. At the interval England had conceded 10 penalties to New Zealand's five. At full-time the tally had increased to 15 against seven. It was an exercise in self destruction.

And the sad aspect was that it masked the things England did well. Led by Phil Vickery and Nick Easter, England looked as if they wanted to play. There was a roughness to the exchanges. They took the game to New Zealand.

Early in the match, on a charge led by Easter and Tim Payne, England drove through the heart of the All Blacks forwards. If Riki Flutey had made more of a snap chance against Carter early on, England could have worried the All Blacks more than they eventually did. But that opportunity, as did the breakout at the start of the second half when Easter was only just felled by a desperate lunge from full-back Mils Muliaina, went begging.

That, and the pervasive indiscipline, has been the theme of England's autumn.

They have scored only one try against the "big three", which came against Australia. Against South Africa and the All Blacks it was zip. Brian Smith, headhunted by Martin Johnson to improve England's alarming strike rate, is clearly not able at the moment to provide the team with an edge. Johnson was brought in to instil rigour and direction. To evaluate his contribution, ask yourself this: if England were up this Saturday again against New Zealand, South Africa or Australia, how much of your cash would you risk on them winning?

NEW ZEALAND 32 (Mils Muliaina (2), Nonu tries; Dan Carter 5 pens, con) bt ENGLAND 6 (Toby Flood, Delon Armitage pens)

Sunday Telegraph, London