Wellington (AFP)
"The End of the World": The All Blacks defeat in the Rugby World Cup semi-final against England stunned New Zealand as their dreams of a third consecutive title were swept by a team of Upper England.
"The End of the World, The All Blacks Stunned by Incredible English", has won the New Zealand Herald, the country's biggest daily newspaper.
The New Zealanders' 19-7 loss to the British on Saturday in Yokohama is the first in the World Cup since the quarter-final lost to France in 2007 (20-18), after which they had lined up an incredible series of 18 victories.
Facing a fiery and superior England team, the All Blacks never seemed threatening.
"If (the All Blacks) succeed in getting out it will be a hell of a lot of effort," said Stephen Donald, the former all-black All-Time leading scorer in the 2011 finals against France, and commentator for New Zealand television.
In his search for reasons for the loss, the New Zealand Herald claimed that the decision to start regular second-row Scott Barrett as a flanker was "a bet that did not work".
But for most New Zealand media, England was simply too strong.
Gregor Paul, columnist for the New Zealand Herald, praised the ability of the English to have reduced "the world's best attack to a random mic-mac of frantic bad ideas."
Rugby journalist Stuff.co.nz, Marc Hinton wrote: "New Zealanders have to admit it, the (English) were beautiful."
For Television New Zealand, it is England's "incessant pressure and relentless pace" that is behind the defeat, while Television Three's website says the All Blacks were "shaken by an initial offensive" and never recovered.
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