CHRIS ROBSHAW refused to take any comfort yesterday from a heroic 20-15 defeat by New Zealand, reiterating instead England’s desire to deliver a test series victory.

It took a 78th-minute try by Conrad Smith to separate the rivals in a fiercely contested opener at Eden Park.

England finished with heroes all over the pitch, among them the heavily maligned Freddie Burns and Kyle Eastmond, but Robshaw is unable to look beyond the result.

“We’re extremely proud of all the effort and that we were able to come here an do that, but we can’t be happy,” the Red Rose captain said.

“Because of the standards we set for each other now and the standards we play at, we’re here to win a test series and it’s simple as that.

“We’re 1-0 down but there are two tests left and we see the bigger picture.

“There’s one thing we have to do differently next week and that’s win.”

England were missing as many as 10 first choice starters either through injury or the fixture congestion that robbed them of their Premiership finalists, but still the All Blacks were forced to dig deep to amass a 15th successive victory.

Burns and Cruden traded penalties but it was the All Blacks fly-half who took the bold decision to take a quick tap penalty instead of going for goal when the score was tied 15-15.

His instincts proved correct as soon after Smith darted over in the right corner with England stretched by Marland Yarde’s loss to the sin-bin.

“We got ourselves in some good positions at times, but we didn’t quite finish them off,” Robshaw said.

“They probably got on our line twice and took a chance and that was the difference.

“Going into that last 10 minutes we had enough to win but credit to them, that’s what they’re good at.

“We were in positions to win, but it’s only the result that matters and that went their way.”