A scorching first half from a hungry and revitalised All Blacks side swept England away winning 36-3 in Dunedin’s `House of Pain’ today.

England looked jaded up against a rampant and fresh All Blacks team inspired by new coach Graham Henry and captained, for the first time, by centre Tana Umaga.

They were a pace a man faster than England in the opening 40 minutes and overran the world champions in every department scoring three scintillating tries by half time, all converted by centre Daniel Carter who also kicked three penalties for a 30-3 lead.

It’s the first time that England have lost two successive games for a long while and it was the highest score ever conceded by any previous reigning world champions.

England’s head coach Sir Clive Woodward admitted afterwards: "We looked very slow and lethargic and we were a yard slower than the team in black.

"We looked tired, and we were not our usual selves, but New Zealand played very well. It is not my role to make excuses. We lost fair and square, and we made errors that we don't normally do.

"The game was over at half-time but at least we have another game next weekend to look forward to. It is a big challenge to bounce back, and we have to make sure we get a fresh team out.

"We have got to front up, look in the mirror, re-group and try and play better next Saturday.

England captain Lawrence Dallaglio also had "no excuses" for England's biggest defeat since losing to New Zealand 64-22 in 1998.

"This is very disappointing for all of us," he. "We talked about the importance of first-up tackles. We missed six in the whole game against New Zealand in Wellington last year, but we missed six from the kick-off today.

"If you are going to miss them at that rate, then you are going to make life incredibly difficult. Whenever New Zealand got a sniff of quick ball, they moved it wide and took their opportunities.

"In most areas, we came second best. When you lose 36-3, it is easy to say you are tired, but there are no excuses."

England went behind after just five minutes as they struggled to cope with the All Blacks ferocious opening pace and power and conceded a fifth minute penalty in the process that Carter booted over.

Fly half Charlie Hodgson replied some eight minutes later to level, 3-3, that, as it turned out, proved to be England’s only points of the match as the All Blacks enveloped England with some breathtaking rugby and touchdowns up to the interval

The first came within minutes of Englands points when the All Blacks moved the ball neatly down the line with fly half Carlos Spencer releasing wing Doug Howlett before looping round the wing to touch down in the right corner.

Ten minutes later they grabbed a second from a superb counter-attack and a dazzling display of of inter-passing that ended with flanker Richie McCaw feeding big wing Joe Rokocoko who cut inside abd brushed passed some flailing English arms to score a converted try.

Howlett crossed for his side's third and final try in the 32nd minute after a straight-forward move off a scrum involving Umaga and the outstanding back three of Mils Muliaina, Howlett and Rokocoko.