Steve Borthwick believes England were given a lesson in clinical finishing during their 44-12 defeat to New Zealand.

The tourists' unhappy trip ended with a second comprehensive defeat to the All Blacks, who clinched the two-Test series 2-0.

England captain Borthwick told Sky Sports: "We've got to credit the All Blacks. Whenever they saw a tryscoring opportunity, got close to the line, they took those opportunities. We had some opportunities in the first half. We didn't take them and ultimately that cost us.

"We were a long way away at half-time. It could have been a lot closer. But I'd like to credit the England boys, the way they stuck at it.

"We know our precision let us down but outstanding effort."

Borthwick insists England had prepared well for the game but felt they were let down by their execution as New Zealand ran in five tries to two.

"Our preparation's gone well," Borthwick said. "Ultimately, it's about the 80 minutes. You can have a great week's training but it all comes down to the 80 minutes.

"In the last two games, we've been found wanting against a very strong opposition."

"The score probably didn't reflect the game," acting England manager Rob Andrew told the BBC. "I thought we played better than we did last week. The balance of the game was better and we played some good rugby at times. We opened up and scored two good tries

"The problem you have against the All Blacks is that if you don't take your chances they will take theirs. We should have scored two tries in the first half that would have given us four tries in the game, a pretty healthy return away from home.

"We chased the game at the end which was perhaps a little bit of naivety of one or two of the younger players.

"You can't complain about the effort that the players have put in. But if you don't take your chances and you leave them with too many chances you will lose down here.

"We've learned an awful lot. The squad is announced in the next 10 days, the guys will be back together in August and we can look ahead to the Autumn Internationals when Martin Johnson takes over."

Rodney So'oialo praised replacements Sione Lauaki and Anthony Boric after injuries to captain Richie McCaw and experienced lock Ali Williams marred the win.

"They [Richie and Ali] are two very experienced guys and the work they do on the field is tremendous. The guys that took their places did exceptionally well," said So'oialo.

So'oialo also praised the All Blacks tight five.

"The tighties worked very hard to give good, clean ball to the backs and it paid off.[From set-pieces] the boys did their job well and took full advantage," he said.

Meanwhile New Zealand coach Graham Henry identified several areas where the All Blacks need to improve.

"When you win 44-12, it's not a bad result," he said. "It's a pretty good England side but you just have to enjoy the moment, enjoy the occasion but recognise we have some work to do.

"We're scoring tries from the set piece, which is very positive. There is a lot to work on at the breakdown. I think we got better defensively as the game went on but there is still some work to do there though. We're not where we want to be yet.

"We're struggling to get good ball at the tackle area at times. Set piece ball was pretty good though the lineout struggled a bit after Ali went off.

"Defensively I thought we lacked numbers in the first half, but the boys played a lot better in the second half and we improved as the game went on."