'No ceiling' to England's development - George

Jamie George was named England captain before the start of the 2024 Six Nations

England captain Jamie George is convinced there is a lot more to come from his side despite a 24-17 loss to New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday.

They led 17-13 at one stage in the second half, but substitute Beauden Barrett inspired the All Blacks to victory in the closing minutes.

It meant New Zealand completed a 2-0 series win, following their 16-15 victory in Dunedin a week earlier.

"We are building something here, there is no ceiling to how good this team can be," George told BBC Sport.

"We are devastated - really, really devastated. It is so frustrating, we've given everything and genuinely feel like we deserve more."

'Immensely proud'

Head coach Steve Borthwick said he was "immensely proud" of his players and added: "I think the team's making progress.

"We've ultimately got ourselves in positions to win both Test matches and unfortunately have not been able to convert.

"There's plenty of learning there for us, that we'll take away and look closely at, and make sure we're a better team going forward."

Tries from Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman, both set up by superb cross-field kicks by fly-half Marcus Smith, gave England a one-point lead at half-time.

Smith added another penalty after the break, but the introduction of Barrett turned the match in the All Blacks’ favour.

The 33-year-old back made a slicing break and fed Mark Tele'a for the winger to score his second try, and two successful kicks from the tee by Damian McKenzie ensured that the home side's 30-year unbeaten run at Eden Park continued.

George disputes late call by officials

England were chasing a converted try that would have levelled the match in the closing seconds, and George questioned a decision by referee Nic Berry and his team of officials to penalise England from a line-out drive in the final minute, which brought an end to the match.

The Saracens hooker said of the decision: "I think it's wrong. If you're looking for infringements, I think there is an infringement in the maul first.

"The reason why we had to go round the outside was because they had sacked a live maul in the middle.

"I am also short of the line and the ball is on the floor so the play must go on. I think there are a lot of bad decisions in that," added George, who later said he accepted that it was a "difficult decision" for the officials.

Borthwick said the call was "not one to dwell upon now" as it may "take away from what was an excellent Test match", while New Zealand head coach Scott Robertson said: "When you slowed it down, it got pretty clear. Most things slowed down in rugby become clear."

Speaking on the Rugby Union Daily podcast, ex-England fly-half Paul Grayson said: "There's so much subtlety in amongst what seems like chaos at times in the breakdown.

"The game is a game of interpretation and sometimes it's about who can infringe better. There was a bit of that from both teams in the way they approached the breakdown."

He continued: "I thought the penalty at the end was a penalty. When you get backs involved in mauls, there's always something likely to go wrong and Ollie Lawrence can see the line, he breaks away - in old money it was truck-and-trailer, so obstruction.

"I have no issues with the refereeing today and if you're asking referees and assistants to find those tiny little details, you can't complain when something as obvious as that goes against you.

"It's just a shame that if they'd managed to get that score, kicked the goal and then had 30 seconds of madness to try to win it, it would have been some finish."