Martin Johnson has blamed England's lack of composure for their 32-6 mauling by New Zealand.

Coming on the back of last week's 42-6 pounding by South Africa and a 28-14 defeat by Australia, Saturday's loss at Twickenham completed a tough month for the new manager.

England trailed 12-3 at half-time and were close to cutting the deficit to two points at the start of the second half when Nick Easter looked certain to score before being ankle-tapped by Mils Muliaina.

New Zealand weathered the subsequent pressure then turned the match around by scoring the first of three second-half tries after shoving England off their own scrum.

Johnson said: "Three weeks on the trot we were in the game at half-time and at the risk of saying the same thing we didn't take our chances.

"There were lots of good things again. In the first half both defences were pretty much on top, we made a very good attacking team look average. But as a team we need to improve our second half performance. The guys are getting used to the physical intensity of test rugby."

He added: "At this level when you make mistakes you get killed. It's getting a bit old to say it's tight margins. We made it too easy for them to score and you can't do that at this level.

"That scrum was a key moment. To turn the ball over and score a try, that kills you.

"We have got to get better at concentrating. In tests there are crucial moments and they have to recognise them without the captain saying it.

"You can't let your concentration go for a minute. You can in the Premiership and get away with it but not against these guys. We lost composure at times."

Johnson said that he had not had a chance to look at the four yellow cards dished out to England players but said: "Some of the guys were surprised at their yellows. I've not seen each one but to get four is pretty unusual."

England's defeat leaves them outside the top four in the IRB rankings - meaning they will be among the second seeds for Monday's draw for the 2011 World Cup.

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