England manager Martin Johnson has admitted he has been left "grumpy" after seeing his side lose a thrilling game against the NZ Maori.
Final defeat annoys England boss
England manager Martin Johnson has admitted he has been left "grumpy" after seeing his side lose a thrilling game against the New Zealand Maori.
England played some entertaining attacking rugby as they scored tries through Steffon Armitage, Danny Care and Chris Ashton, but it wasn't quite enough as the Maoris held on for a 35-28 victory.
And despite taking plenty of positives from the tour Down Under as a whole, Johnson admitted his side will have learned some harsh lessons from the defeat in Napier.
"It rankles losing that game because there was a definite chance to win it," said Johnson.
"I am a bit grumpy. We said international rugby is brutal and at times people didn't do their jobs well enough in the second half for us to be able to win.
"I think it is (a harsh lesson). We were upbeat at half-time. We knew what we had to do - but we then had to go and do it.
"We lost our way a bit, we lost our composure slightly, forced a few things and defensively we were poor at the start of the second half.
"If you don't handle their powerful runners you get what we got, which is a couple of tries conceded and a good lead lost.
Experience
"I should be more upbeat about the whole tour but it annoys me to chuck away the game."
England finish the tour with two wins, two defeats and a draw from their five matches.
And Johnson believes that the tour will provide a good platform for which England can build on heading towards next year's World Cup.
"On the whole, this tour and this (midweek) side have been fantastic," said Johnson.
"There was some scepticism what value we would get out of fit. The experience has been great for the whole team.
"Lots of guys have really come through, lots of guys have really stood up and will benefit hugely from the experience of playing.
"Players will have played themselves into the (senior squad to be announced in July) and there will be some learning points for some players to take away and be aware of.
"That is what we came for - to play at a high level so we could find these things out. I was getting asked by players why they aren't starting - they should worry about being good enough."
