Stuart Lancaster laments "poor" first-half display

Stuart Lancaster believes that a "hugely disappointing" first-half performance set the tone for England's heavy 36-13 defeat to New Zealand this morning.

Julian Savea and Ben Smith both ran in two tries as the All Blacks led by a 23-point margin at the halfway stage in the final Test in Hamilton.

A better second-half showing saw Steve Hansen's side add just one more try to their haul, with Savea completing his hat-trick in the dying minutes, but Lancaster says that the damage was done during a "poor" opening 40 minutes.

"We were hugely disappointing in the first half," he told Sky Sports News. "It's a high-quality All Blacks side but the first half was poor from us.

"I thought we showed tremendous character to come back in the second half and we created some great opportunities but unfortunately we didn't take them and we were beaten by the better side."

The hosts won all three Test matches as this morning's defeat concludes England's summer tour of New Zealand.