After last weekends dominant win for Steve MacNamara's England over the New Zealand tourists, both sides and an eager crowd made their way to christen the Olympic Stadium with its first taste of rugby league.

The England side were unchanged from last weeks victory but Stephen Kearney rang the changes with Kodi Nikorima coming into the half backs in place of Lolohea and Alex Glenn and Lewis Brown on the bench.

A win for England would seal the series, their first in eight years, but a win for the Kiwis would take it down to the wire with the decider at the DW Stadium in Wigan next weekend.

Two quick England penalties signalled the opening points when Sam Moa held Chris Hill down in the tackle, Gareth Widdop kicked the penalty after nine minutes. Isaac Luke squared the scores on thirteen when he kicked a two-pointer after England interfered at the play-the-ball and it had been a tetchy start from both sides.

Over the next twenty minutes England put in a monumental defensive effort to thwart an almost relentless New Zealand attack before finding some ground and coming close to opening the try scoring themselves. But the sides went into the interval all tied up at 2-2.

There were just a couple of minutes on the second half clock when Shaun Kenny-Dowall picked up a low Harris pass to run the angle and ground one handed from five metres out. with Luke off the pitch Jordan Kahu kicked the touchline conversion.

Just like they had in the first half, the tourists dominated the second half. But with a chance to put the game beyond England, Luke missed a simple looking penalty on sixty-eight and left the door ajar.

On seventy-one Josh Hodgson put in a short-range grubber which rebounded off the post pad and appeared to be grounded by a flying James Graham. After a long consultation with the video referee the try was denied.

Two minutes later and Nikorima dropped the ball with the line begging, it was as if neither side was keen to secure the win.

On seventy-seven Kahu sealed the New Zealand win with a thirty metre drop goal in a game which missed the explosive nature of the first test.

England's defence was nothing short as sensational, but it had to be as they were under pressure for the majority of the game. Spending so much time in defence allowed England little time to show any attacking flair and they were kept to just two points in a game of just one try.

It has set up a classic decider next week at a sold out DW Stadium and on the basis of today it must be New Zealand who are the favourites going into the third test.

England: Hardaker, Burgess J., Bateman, Watkins, Hall, Widdop (G), Williams, Graham, Hodgson, Hill, Whitehead, Farrell, O'Loughlin. Subs: Roby, Burgess T., Cooper, Ferres.

New Zealand: Tuivasa-Sheck, Nightingale, Kahu (G, DG), Whare, Kenny-Dowall (T), Hiku, Nikorima, Bromwich, Luke (G), Moa, Proctor, Harris, Blair. Subs: Glenn, Taupau, Matulino, Brown.

Referee: Gerrard Sutton (Aus)

Venue: Olympic Stadium, London

Attendance: 44,393