TOM BURGESS said yesterday that he was pleased with England’s 26-12 victory over New Zealand on Sunday, in the first of three Test matches between the two sides.

It was an absorbing game of Test rugby which showed that the southern hemisphere dominance of the game might be restricted to the union code.

It’s too early for England to be celebrating though they could claim an early series win if they defeat the Kiwis at the Olympic Stadium.

And Burgess hopes that they can win the series in London on Saturday.

“It was a very important win,” he said. “We’re back on our own turf for the first time in two years and we needed to come out in the first Test and put in a good performance.

“We knew if we did that, it would set us up for the tournament. We’re pleased but we know we need to work on some more stuff. We’ve got some improvements in us and we’re looking forward to kicking on now.

“It was good to win against a very tough team but we know they will come back strong next week. Their coach is probably going to give it to them this week. They are going to come out firing so that’s something we’ve got to be wary of.”

New Zealand raced to an early lead and their 10 points in 17 minutes had some onlookers worried that the opening match of the series would be an anti-climactic one-sided affair.

They opened the scoring through Tohu Harris while Roger Tuivasa-Sheck threatened constantly, regularly joining the line from his fullback position to become his team’s creative director all across the park.

England weren’t getting the bounce of the ball in the first quarter of the game as their kicks regularly ended up in New Zealand hands which gave them good field position in the opening stages of the game.

And when a failed Chris Hill charge-down gave the touring side a new set of tackles, New Zealand eventually scored through Sam Moa.

But England’s luck was about to change. Josh Hodgen pulled a try back, then a Kiwi try was disallowed by the video referee for an obstruction call which could have gone either way.

Shortly after, England were down at the other end of the field scoring another try of their own through Brett Ferres.

Issac Luke kicked a penalty which made the scores 12-12 at half-time but England came out in the second half to secure a victory. The visitors failed to score a single point in this half, as England’s forwards began to get the upper hand.

A second from Ferres put England ahead and a final try from captain Sean O’Laughlin sealed the win with a four pointer which summed up the performance of the England pack.