Rugby league convert Sonny Bill Williams made a big impact on his New Zealand debut © Getty Images

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Matches: England 16 - 26 New Zealand

Players/Officials: Chris Ashton | Shontayne Hape | Dylan Hartley | Sonny Bill Williams

Tournaments/Tours: Hillary Shield | New Zealand tour

Teams: England | New Zealand

Chalk one up for the leaguies. If anyone doubted what converts from the 13-a-side game bring to rugby union, the film of England v New Zealand would be highly instructive.

Debutant centre Sonny Bill Williams on one side, England wing Chris Ashton on the other, each brought the best of his former code to the game he has adopted. Williams' ability to make the half-break and pass before being wrapped up by tacklers, Ashton's desire to take on tacklers one on one and simple, straightforward enterprise are the sort of skills you acquire on the playing fields of Wigan.

In an afternoon full of endeavour, they stood out. It was Williams' surge and pass that initiated New Zealand's opening score, claimed by Hosea Gear, while Ashton did just about everything in Dylan Hartley's first try for England but touch it down himself.

On the English side Martin Johnson, one of nature's glass half-empty guys, was right to feel frustrated. England did spot the All Blacks a 14-point start and, once they started getting back into the game, twice contrived to concede scores as soon as they had cut the deficit to seven points. But he must also feel some sense of encouragement.

England have been plagued by inconsistency since 2004, following a good display with a shocker and vice-versa. This, though, was their third decent performance in four matches following on from the highly enterprising display in Paris and the victory in Sydney, with only the Perth debacle on the debit side. That's also three defeats in four, but against numbers one and two in the world and the best in Europe - and only this one at home.

They played with adventure and purpose, when they had the ball. The trick, with New Zealand, is to deny them possession. It isn't easy but when accomplished - as it was for a fair bit of the second half - you can make them look human. As Johnson said: "When we put them under pressure they made mistakes and we looked like the ones who were going to score."

New Zealanders will, not unreasonably, chuckle at the fact that England's try was scored by the Rotorua-born Dylan Hartley, while the second score they were denied - quite correctly - by busy television match official Giulio de Santis - would have been awarded to Shontayne Hape, Aucklander and not so long ago Sonny Bill's centre partner in the New Zealand Rugby League XIII.

But that was merely further supporting evidence for a proposition fully proven by this contest - that New Zealanders are currently the world's best attacking rugby union players. The ability of the All Blacks to beat opponents, switch position, change the direction of attack and outflank the cover were - provided you were not trying to stop them or deeply committed to England's cause - a delight to watch.

Every time they had the ball in the first quarter, it seemed likely that they would score. That they did so only twice, and took 17 minutes to get across for the first time, reflected credit on some committed English defending, not least by Ashton who produced at least one try-saving tackle and a superb piece of dextrous handling to give Ben Foden the time and space for a vital clearance. England will not face opposition of this quality again until next year.

They're quite right to feel disappointed that they lost, but can also take some genuine plusses from this performance. They were not completely blown away by a double knock that might have destroyed a less resilient team, and showed an attacking intent that fulfilled the pre-match promises.

The distance to be made up before the World Cup may be too much, but at least the direction of travel is clearly the right way - and that isn't something you've often been able to say about England, particularly in the autumn - in the downturn that has afflicted them since 2004.