As England lamented their defensive deficiencies and an impotent backline, Steve Hansen issued an ominous warning -- the New Zealand rugby side are apparently only running at 50 percent of their capacity.

The assessment today by the All Blacks forwards coach was hardly likely to be welcomed by an England side who competed for periods of their 20-37 loss last night here at Eden Park.

After arguably holding the ascendency during a bruising opening quarter, an unimaginative England then caved in to concede 34 points in 25 minutes either side of halftime.

It marked an All Blacks scoring spree reminiscent of all that was good before last year's failed World Cup campaign.

"We're probably travelling at 50 per cent I reckon," Hansen said after the All Blacks' 27th successive win on home soil.

"We're excited about the group, they're making good progress."

The All Blacks constructed four sublime tries; in reply Topsy Ojo grabbed two opportunistic efforts that delighted the English debutant, although they succeeded only in preventing a rout.

Trailing 13-37 with 30 minutes remaining the English faced a hammering but muscled up when the cause was lost.

New Zealand also contributed to a ragged run home by emptying the bench with an eye to conserving key personnel before next Saturday's second test in Christchurch, although Hansen would not be critical of substitutions that handed Anthony Boric and Stephen Donald their first test caps.

"The last 20 minutes had nothing to do with the subs, we tried to play two steps ahead of ourselves," he said.

"It became quite frantic. It's a learning curve when you've got an inexperienced side," he said, adding the 2008 team were still absorbing how to really ran home the advantage.

England initially sprang out of the blocks and made life so difficult at the breakdown that New Zealand captain Richie McCaw was warned for repeated infringing in the 20th minute.

But after Olly Barkley goaled the resulting penalty to give England a 6-3 lead, the All Blacks clicked up a gear.

While McCaw was supreme against the Irish in the Wellington wet last weekend, it was first five-eighth Dan Carter who produced the sublime individual performance.

He scored a try, flawless goalkicking embossed his 22-point haul and his cool direction of the All Blacks backline has probably rendered his English counterpart Charlie Hodgson redundant.

Hodgson was eventually spared further torment in the second half and England looked more fluid when Barkley moved into No 10, a place he is likely to retain next weekend.

Second five-eighth Ma'a Nonu was also at his destructive and creative best, terrorising Hodgson and having enough vision to set up Mils Muliaina for the killer try two minutes into the second half.

While complacency may appear the All Blacks biggest obstacle as they prepare for Christchurch, Hansen agreed it was far from a polished performance, especially in an area of his responsibility.

English cunning severely disrupted the All Blacks lineout, with the tourists snatching seven feeds.

"They really got at us and caused problems," Hansen said.

"They closed the gap and used the front lifter to shut off the channel."

England, meanwhile, face several challenges, notably keeping their morale intact for one last match at the end of a season that effectively started a year ago.

Caretaker manager Rob Andrew, in charge while Martin Johnson remains at home awaiting the arrival of his second child, bravely sought to accentuate the positives.

"I thought we were strong at the breakdown and the set piece," Andrew said.

"I thought there was a lot of spirit from our guys. There were a lot of young guys who haven't played the All Blacks who would have learned an awful lot."

It was left to defence coach Mike Ford to offer a more realistic appraisal.

"It's pretty embarrassing sat here as defence coach after conceding the tries that we did," Ford said.

"We got ripped apart. We thought New Zealand might catch us out on kick returns and turnovers, one thing we were confident of was our set piece defence ... it was dreadful."