England prop Joe Marler has refuted suggestions that his side purposefully slowed down their first Test against New Zealand due to inferior fitness levels.
All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen highlighted the issue following the match, claiming that he had been frustrated by the time England took to form scrums and lineouts.
However, Marler insists that his side are always looking to play high-tempo rugby and believes that Hansen's complaints are "nonsense".
"We want to play at a high tempo and we showed that in the Six Nations when we took France, Ireland and Wales on at that sort of game," Marler told reporters.
"Of course they've come out and said we slow the game down. I didn't see them running to any of the scrums or lineouts quicker than us. It's not a tactic of ours to slow the game down.
"As a spectator or a neutral you'd probably look at it and say it wasn't a great game to watch because there were a lot of dropped balls and set pieces. That's why the game was slow. It's nonsense."
England will look to level the series at 1-1 on Saturday, having lost the first match in agonising fashion last weekend.
Barney Corkhill
