Hansen: Better team won

New Zealand womens rugby coach Grant Hansen conceded that the better team won on the day in the second test between his side and England at Esher.

England won the game 21-7 to secure the series two games in having also won at Twickenham at the weekend.

Hansen said: This is a very good England since and they have done a huge amount since the World Cup. We are suffering with not having had a game for a year certainly and we have had a lot of retirements and players leave and really you dont replace players like Vicky Heighway and Melissa Ruscoe quickly. We knew it was going to be tough coming here but we were also excited about some of our new talent. In patches tonight we looked good but in between those patches we had a hell of a lot of defending to do. England got some really quick recycled ball and they were able to get in behind us really quickly. In the end it physically took its toll on us and we couldnt attack with the kind of accuracy and they speed that we needed to.

On the day England were far better. We had parity in the set piece but individually they looked stronger and faster and more match fit. On the flip side, we now need to look at Saturday as a one off test. We would like to leave these shores playing the sort of rugby that we are used to. The girls are hurting, they dont lose very often and they will be motivated to get something this weekend.

New Zealand will find themselves in 12 months in the same position as right now going into a three test series against England with no other meaningful games together for a year. With a three month gap between the NPC and the test series in 2012, Hansen says another run as the national side would be useful before then.

Ideally it would be fantastic to get a game as its a good break after the NPC but it is a tremendous opportunity to play England every year now for three years whatever happens. The more games the Black Ferns get the better, they have only played 60 or so test games some of the England girls have played that themselves alone so the more we can play the more we can rebuild and develop new players.

Hansen hopes to have captain Victoria Grant back this weekend after she hurt her ankle in game one while a number of front row players are also struggling to be fit after taking knocks in the second test.