Smithy or Izzy for All Blacks Fullback?

It was definitely the turning point of a riveting, end-to-end test match between England and New Zealand.

With half-time approaching, a loose pass from the ABs let Manu Tuilagi scamper from his own line and almost seemed certain to score at the other end.

In came Ben Smith from fullback who managed to catch the flying Samoan born England centre-turned-winger, tackle him to the ground. And not only that, get back up and manage to steal the ball from Tuilagi to give the ABs back possession.

The ABs ended up scoring a penalty goal to be just 10-6 down at half-time, rather than 17-6. And we all know what happened in the 2nd half - the ABs played their best football of the season yet and scored 3 tries to triumph 28-27 - England only closing the gap to 1 right on full time.

But back to Ben Smith, the Dunedin born boy playing in only his 2nd home test. Normally he would be under intense pressure to show what he can do in front of his home crowd. This time, at his preferred fullback position, he did just that and more, clearly underlining his status as the in-form fullback in New Zealand rugby, icing his performance with a try and that tackle of course.

Whether he is the best in world rugby is another matter - certainly he did fare better than England's supposed number one fullback in the world, Mike Brown who was very lucky to have his try awarded late in the game.

God knows how the Quins man got that title.

I guess one mark against Ben Smith - and one that is in Israel Dagg's favour - is that he lacks a long-distance kicking game and that was evident against England as the All Blacks struggled for territory early on. Smith definitely prefers to take the line on or put the up and under but at times in this series, there was never really much on, particularly with the lack of front-foot ball for the ABs to play with.

Given Ben Smith's experience of playing first five, that could be something he could work on if the coaches want him to - I can't imagine they do though given the type of rugby the coaches want to play.

A fit Izzy Dagg will probably still be preferred at fullback - but the Hawkes Bay flyer hasn't quite found his full form yet and probably needs a bit of time to recover and then gain his form with the Crusaders or even Hawkes Bay. I'd imagine Dagg will be fullback at the World Cup next year too, with Smith complimenting him at right wing.

At this stage though, you'd still take Ben Smith at fullback particularly after that tackle - easily one of the best we've seen for a long time.

As for the ABs, there is lots to work on from now till next year. Some say England may have shown their full hand but I think there is more to come from the men in white and some would say that they've only just started. The fact that they've only lost their games in New Zealand by 5 and 1 should be deemed a moral victory for the English and any touring side given how hard the ABs are to beat at home.

There's still a 3rd test to come and with the series now wrapped in the ABs' favour, the English will feel that they deserve a consolation win from this series.