England coach Eddie Jones has no issue with his side settling for a draw, after refusing to push for victory in Sunday's 25-25 stalemate against the All Blacks at Twickenham.
With just 10 minutes to go, and the All Blacks ahead 25-6, the hosts scored an unanswered 19 points to level the scores, and leave New Zealand's final test of the year on a knife's edge.
But despite having the ball - and all of the momentum - England's Marcus Smith cleared the ball into touch after the siren, finishing the game as a draw instead of looking to complete a stunning victory.
A win would have been only the ninth for England in 43 tests against the All Blacks, but Sunday's result will now go down as the second draw between the two sides. The All Blacks have won 33 of the 43 tests played between the two sides.
But while All Blacks coach Ian Foster questioned England's decision to take the draw instead of push for a win, opposite number Jones defended the move.
"It's always up to the players," he said. "I trust their decision-making.
"I'm not on the field, I don't have access to them. I trust their decision."
Jones also accepted that while it was disappointing to not come away with a win after such a spirited comeback, England should hold their heads high for not being on the receiving end of a great All Blacks victory.
And after the 19-7 victory over the All Blacks at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, England are unbeaten against their old foes for more than four years.
"I thought [in] the second half we played really well," he continued. "The only thing we didn't do was convert the pressure we had into points.
"I thought we played really well and that put us into a position to win the game.
"We're disappointed we didn't win the game, but a draw's a draw.
"The dominance they had in the first half, we could have fallen away. I've seen better teams than us fall away against the All Blacks and get beaten by 40 or 50 points.
"I've coached teams that have done that. When you get absolutely pulverised by them like we were in the first half, and you don't stay in the fight, you can get blown away even more.
"We stayed in the fight."
After Sunday morning's northern tour finale, the All Blacks will return to New Zealand for their end of season break.
England meanwhile will back up against world champions South Africa at the same venue next Sunday morning.
