England tour of New Zealand: Marland Yarde gives Sky Sports an exclusive inside line
After consecutive defeats England are staring down the barrel of a series whitewash, but their dressing room remains full of confidence ahead of one final Test against the All Blacks...
Monday 16 June 2014 19:02, UK
A Test series victory may have slipped through the hands of England at the Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday as New Zealand regained the Hillary Shield, but the tourists remain wholeheartedly focused on ending the tour on a high, insists Marland Yarde.
Stuart Lancaster’s side suffered an agonising 28-27 defeat in Dunedin on Saturday; just seven days after Conrad Smith’s 78th minute try dealt them a cruel blow as the All Blacks prevailed 20-15 in Auckland.
Back-to-back defeats leave England standing on the verge of a series whitewash, although their performances have shown signs of significant strides forward.
England went into half-time 10-6 up in Dunedin, courtesy of a fine Yarde score, before a devastating 20-minute spell – half of which the visitors played with 14 men after Owen Farrell was sin-binned - saw the ruthlessly clinical All Blacks register 22 points.
Momentary loss of concentration cost England dear, but this Lancaster side is defined by desire and that was embodied in late tries from Mike Brown and Chris Ashton as they reduced the arrears to a solitary point.
“It was just a little bit late from us but we’re looking ahead, we still have a game to come and we’re determined to go out on a high,” says Yarde with a steely fortitude echoing through his voice.
England got off to a roaring start as Yarde ripped through All Black veteran Richie McCaw off the back of a set-piece move and just had the wingspan to reach out with his right arm and ground the ball.
From thereon in, there was barely a moment for the 28,400-capacity crowd to draw breath, let alone the players.
"I thought we got out of the blocks pretty well in the first half, we'd been training really hard and were focused on getting a good start,” reflects Yarde.
"From that point of view we were pretty disappointed, although we had a good start, we could have built up more of a lead.
"Going into the second half the momentum switched and it was about trying to get control as quick as possible but at that stage we let in a couple of tries and Faz got a yellow card which didn't help too much but the team showed real character to come back into the game in the final 10-15 minutes.”
Roles and responsibilities
The Harlequins-bound winger adds: "We're working really hard on our detail and roles and responsibilities and how we want to play the game.
"My role is to support the team, run my lines and make sure I get over the line and I was lucky enough to score the try but all the credit for that must go to the forwards for setting the platform from the line-out and putting us in a good position.”
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England won the first-half battle which started and ended with penalties either side of Yarde’s try and the Saint Lucia-born flyer admits the dressing room was buoyant at the break.
“They were putting quite a lot of pressure on our line and I thought we defended pretty well throughout the first half, we back our defence and at the time it was a bit annoying to concede three penalties,” he claims.
“Going in from the first half we were confident, we were happy with how things had gone, obviously we felt we could have got more points in that first half but we felt we were in with a good shout.
“Then it was about going out in the second half and doing exactly what we did in the first half but unfortunately we couldn’t quite get our game going.”
The All Blacks are unsympathetic by nature and as soon as England offered any sign of a let-up they pounced.
Full-back Ben Smith gliding
