By Matt Majendie

England post-match reaction England 19-23 New Zealand

England captain Martin Corry believes Saturday's defeat to the All Blacks could be the key to a successful World Cup defence in 2007.

England were edged 23-19, a defeat which Corry described as "devastating".

But he said: "I hope in two years time we will look back on this moment as the key moment.

"We now know we can beat the best in the world when we're at our best but we can lose to them as well. Hopefully this'll open us up a bit."

Corry put in an excellent display for England, scoring the first try, but he also picked up 20 stitches following a cut to his forehead.

The Leicester number eight, however, insisted the mental hurt was far harder to bear.

The hardest thing is that we got so close but weren't quite able to pull it off Martin Corry

"But we have to welcome that hurt - that's what makes winning so special," he said. "We're going to feel like this for a while, but it can only make us stronger and better."

England were in the ascendancy for much of the second half, thanks in part to three New Zealand sin-binnings.

And in the 67th minute, they moved to within four points of the visitors' total after Corry opted for Hodgson to kick at goal rather than go for an attacking scrum or line-out.

"I'm quite happy to cop the flak for that decision," said the England skipper. "Instead of being seven behind, that put us four behind and we knew we could get back up there.

"I stick by that decision but unfortunately it didn't work. Sadly we didn't get the opportunity to win the game."

Although Corry celebrated the fact England had "New Zealand on their knees" in the last 10 minutes, he admitted the defeat was still hard to take.